CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 30, 2019) – Freshman midfielder
Enrique Sanchez picked the perfect time to score his first career goal for the Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer team.
Sanchez scored on a free kick 2:04 into the second overtime period to lift the Scarlet Raptors over Stockton University, 1-0, in the final regular-season game for both New Jersey Athletic Conference teams.
The result leaves the Scarlet Raptors with a 13-5-2 record overall and a 5-2-2 mark in the NJAC, giving Rutgers-Camden the third seed and a home game on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the first game of the conference playoffs. Their opponent, once again, will be Stockton, which finished with a 3-4-2 conference mark to earn the sixth seed. The Ospreys are 10-5-3 overall.
NJAC playoff bracket
The Scarlet Raptors' win sliced Stockton's lead in the all-time series to 25-20-7, and gave Rutgers-Camden Head Coach
Tim Oswald his 199th career victory in his 14th year at the helm of the program. Oswald, by far the winningest head coach in Rutgers-Camden men's soccer history, will go for win number 200 Saturday.
In Wednesday's regular-season finale, there was little to choose between the teams during regulation, as the Raptors held slim advantages of 12-11 in shots and 4-3 in corner kicks over the first 90 minutes. Rutgers-Camden turned up the heat in overtime, out-shooting Stockton, 5-0, over the 12:04 of play, while recording the overtime's only corner kick.
In the first overtime, the Raptors nearly ended the game when senior back
Cristian Ognibene hit the right post. Early in the second overtime, senior midfielder
Walter Barreto took a shot that was denied on a great save by Stockton junior keeper Dino Gromitsaris.
Sanchez finally put an end to the marathon when he took a long free kick from the right side. He curled a shot toward the left post that bounced and skipped inside the post for the game-winning goal.
Rutgers-Camden finished with a 17-11 edge in shots and a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks. Gromitsaris finished with six saves for the Ospreys. Raptor junior keeper
Kieran Burns collected his sixth shutout of the season, making three saves
