GALLOWAY, N.J. (April 7, 2021) – When the Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer team traveled to Stockton University for a regular-season game on March 20, the Scarlet Raptors dropped a close 1-0 decision.
The results were much more agreeable to the Scarlet Raptors here Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the New Jersey Athletic Conference tournament.
Fifth-seeded Rutgers-Camden scored a pair of first-half goals and went on to eliminate fourth-seeded Stockton, 2-1.
NJAC bracket
The victory lifts the Scarlet Raptors into the semifinals, where they will play at top-seeded Montclair State University Saturday at 2 p.m. The Red Hawks beat the Scarlet Raptors, 2-0, in Montclair on March 31.
The win lifts the Scarlet Raptors to 2-3-1 in the short pandemic-altered season. The Ospreys ended their campaign at 3-3.
Rutgers-Camden sophomore goalie
Juan Bahena made a huge save to turn the game around 24 minutes into the contest. Stockton was awarded a penalty kick and Bahena saved a shot by senior midfielder Ervin Gjeli.
Shortly thereafter, the Scarlet Raptors jumped on the scoreboard when senior forward
Skyler Diggs stole the ball from Stockton's keeper for a tap-in at 27:33. It was the team-leading fourth goal of the season for Diggs and the 32nd of his stellar career. He is seventh on the all-time Rutgers-Camden goal-scoring list and is eighth on the career point list with 69.
The Raptors scored the eventual game-winning goal at 41:58 on the first career goal by freshman forward
George Louis-Ferdinand. He headed in a long pass by sophomore back
Raimondo Partito.
Bahena kept Stockton off the scoreboard until the Ospreys broke his shutout bid with 1:40 remaining on a goal by freshman
Connor Smith. Bahena finished with five saves in the game, while Stockton senior keeper Dino Gromitsaris had two saves.
Rutgers-Camden held a 12-9 advantage in shots and Stockton had a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.
