CAMDEN, N.J. (Sept. 24, 2022) – Once the New Jersey Athletic Conference season begins, the action on the soccer pitch turns up several levels of intensity.
 
The Rutgers University-Camden men's soccer team and William Paterson University opened their NJAC seasons here Saturday and the Scarlet Raptors stormed back from a 2-1 deficit to hang on for a 4-3 victory. The four goals doubled the Raptors' previous single-game high of two this season, accomplished four times.
 
The win lifts Rutgers-Camden to 4-5-1 overall and 1-0 in the NJAC, snapping a two-game losing streak. Paterson dropped its second straight game to fall to 3-4-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
 
In an action-packed first half, Paterson took leads of 1-0 and 2-1 on goals by David Moreira in the 12th minute and Opeoluwa Olaloko in the 26th minute. Rutgers-Camden forged back to tie the game at 1-1 when senior forward Khari Shepherd knotted the game at 16:02 after graduate student Michael Campbell worked his way along the end line and sent a perfect feed to Shepherd on the left side of the box. It was the first of Campbell's two assists on the day.
 
Shortly before halftime, with Paterson holding a 2-1 lead, the Pioneers were called for a handball in the box. Senior midfielder Christian McCartney delivered the game-tying penalty kick at 43:49.
 
Rutgers-Camden took the lead for good only 2:28 into the second half when Campbell fed freshman midfielder Joseph Lodise in a similar fashion to his first assist. It was the team-leading third goal of the year for Lodise.
 
Sophomore Pedro Jovel-Castro made it a two-goal lead for the Raptors after taking a perfect cross from graduate student midfielder Daniel Tittelmayer and tucking a shot inside the right post. The first goal of the year for Jovel-Castro, which came in the 53rd minute, turned out to be the game-winning goal as the Scarlet Raptors escaped a late-game Paterson rally.
 
An uncleared ball in the box produced a goal by Paterson junior Alfredo Rojas at 68:31 and the Pioneers nearly tied the game with 5:26 remaining when senior back Jason Diaz banged a long shot off the crossbar.
 
Paterson held an 11-8 advantage in shots and the Scarlet Raptors had a 6-5 advantage in corner kicks. Sophomore goalie Sean Boen made two saves for the Scarlet Raptors, but also had several big plays to break up dangerous Paterson opportunities.
 
Senior goalie Thomas Hatch had one save for William Paterson.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to action Monday with a 4 p.m. non-conference game at Penn State-Abington.