CAMDEN N.J. (Oct. 16, 2021) – Shortly after the New Jersey City University men's soccer team tied its conference game here Saturday, one of the most prolific goal scorers in Rutgers University-Camden took matters into his own hand.
 
Senior forward Skyler Diggs broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of goals in a six-minute span in the second half on the way to his third career hat trick, sparking the Scarlet Raptors over the Gothic Knights, 4-1, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference game.
 
The win lifts the Scarlet Raptors to 7-6-2 overall and 3-4 in the NJAC. The Gothic Knights fall to 8-7-1 overall and 0-7 in conference play.
 
Diggs gave the Scarlet Raptors a first-half lead with a goal only 2:12 into the contest, coming after a steal by senior midfielder Christian McCartney, who fed to senior forward Boluwatife Sanya. Sanya slotted a pass to Diggs near the goal, who put away his sixth goal of the season.
 
Some early second-half pressure by NJCU resulted in the tying goal at 48:05 as sophomore midfielder Anthony Salmeron finished a corner kick by sophomore midfielder Thiago Duarte.
 
Rutgers-Camden took the lead for good in the 58th minute on a stellar individual effort by Diggs. His first shot from the box was saved by NJCU goalie Aldahir Cazun, but Diggs gathered in the rebound toward the right post and fired a shot into the left side panel.
 
Diggs completed his hat trick at 63:20 following a feed from freshman forward Ian Baily. The Scarlet Raptors completed the scoring in the 85th minute on the first career goal by senior back Raimondo Partito. It was assisted by freshman Pedro Jovel, who notched his first career point.
 
Diggs' hat trick was the second this season for the Scarlet Raptors, who also had a hat trick from sophomore George Louis-Ferdinand against Gwynedd Mercy University Sept. 5. It was the third career hat trick for Diggs, who also had ones against Penn State-Abington (Oct. 23, 2019) and Lancaster Bible (Oct. 19, 2017).
 
The three goals hiked Diggs' season total to eight and his career total to 40, moving him into fifth place on the program's career list. He is one goal behind fourth-place Mike Zeno (1992-95). He also ranked third in game-winning goals after hiking his total to 14 and he owns 85 career points, seventh on the all-time list.
 
After both teams had four shots in the opening half, Rutgers-Camden out-shot NJCU, 13-3, after the break to finish with a 17-7 advantage in shots. NJCU held a 5-4 edge in corner kicks.
 
Cazun finished with eight saves in the NJCU net and also was aided by one backsave. For Rutgers-Camden, freshman keeper Sean Boen colleted two saves to hike his record to 3-1.
 
Rutgers-Camden returns to action Thursday with a 7 p.m. makeup game against Alvernia University.