CAMDEN, N.J. (Oct. 4, 2025) – In the hard-fought world of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, 90 minutes of men's soccer usually becomes a battle for survival.
 
On a warm, sunny Homecoming Day here Saturday at Rutgers University-Camden, it was the Scarlet Raptors who survived in a wild 4-3 NJAC victory over Rowan University, the nation's 10th-ranked team.
 
The Scarlet Raptors took an early 2-0 lead, weathered some late-game scares and held on to raise their record to 6-3-2 overall and a NJAC-leading 3-0. It was their third straight win and pushed their record to 3-0-1 in their last four games.
 
Rowan fell to 8-3-1 overall and 1-2 in the NJAC.
 
It was the Scarlet Raptors' first win over Rowan since a 2-0 victory on Oct. 17, 2019, which also was the last time Rutgers-Camden posted a win over a team that entered the game ranked nationally. Rowan was ranked 18th/25th in the two national polls at that time and was 3-0-2 against the Raptors since then.
 
The Scarlet Raptors scored a pair of early goals, when freshman Antonio Yantas volleyed home his first collegiate tally at 3:05, assisted by sophomore midfielder Dylan Pino, after the Profs cleared a Raptor corner kick. Fifteen minutes later, Pino was on the scoring end as he took a feed across the middle from senior midfielder Brandon Valeri and drilled in a shot from the top left of the box.
 
Rowan stepped up the pressure near the end of the opening half and had one goal disallowed after taking a corner kick from out of bounds. Moments later, however, freshman midfielder Maxx Eichenbaum put in a goal that counted, with only 1:50 remaining in the half.
 
Rutgers-Camden padded its lead to 3-1 in the 59th minute when a trip inside the box led to a penalty kick by Valeri, but 13 minutes later, the Profs made it a one-goal game again on a goal by sophomore forward Joey Kurak, a high shot into the right side of the net after a feed from senior forward Johnny Troiano.
 
Once again, the Raptors responded in the 82nd minute, as sophomore forward Nik Grello tapped in a perfect cross to the far right post from Pino, making it a 4-2 game. Four minutes later, Rowan pulled within one goal again on a shot by Troiano before Rutgers-Camden held off the Profs over the final 4:28 of play.
 
Rowan finished with a 14-10 edge in shots, while both teams had six corner kicks. Raptor junior goalie Chris Clune made three saves and several key plays to raise his record to 3-0. Rowan freshman keeper C.J. Norton had five saves.
 
The Scarlet Raptors return to action Tuesday with a 7 p.m. non-conference game at Muhlenberg College.