The Ramapo College men’s soccer team is picking up speed as the season continues to progress. On Oct. 19, the Roadrunners won 2-1 over Rutgers-Newark on their home turf, and on Saturday, they hosted New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival Stockton University and won 4-2. The Roadrunners now stand at 4-6-3 overall and 4-2-2 in the NJAC, sitting in second place in the league.
In the match-up against Rutgers-Newark, the Scarlet Raiders got on the board first with a goal from Pablo Moreno off an assist from Juwan Ash. The score held until late in the second half, with under nine minutes left in the game as Ramapo’s Juan Uribe slipped in the game-tying goal with Jake Szatkowski earning the assist to tie the score, 1-1.
The game-winning goal was scored by Ederson La Torre with 12 seconds left. It came from a misplayed header from the Scarlet Raiders’ keeper, allowing La Torre to collect the ball, score and take the lead. It was his second goal of the season.
Rutgers-Newark recorded eight shots on goal and one corner kick while the Roadrunners tallied four shots on goal and three corner kicks. Nikolai Matthews had seven saves in the game, including six in the first half, while Christian Andrach posted two saves for the Scarlet Raiders.
Before the Stockton game on Saturday started, the Ramapo seniors were honored. The senior class includes Matthew Wilcox, Peyton Jones, Dorant Bokshi, Mark Buckel, Jack Hosmer, Ronald Mendez, Brian McEvoy, Mateo Urrego, Thiago Stallhbaum, Nebi Ademi and Andrew Greitz.
Once the game started, it was a fight until the end between the Roadrunners and Ospreys. Ramapo struck first with Damian Zurawski scoring his first goal of the game off a pass from Szatkowski to put Ramapo on the board.
Stockton’s Mike McKeown tied the game two minutes afterward off a pass from teammate Antonio Matos.
Ramapo would then score back-to-back goals to take a 3-1 lead. La Torre gave the Roadrunners the lead back in the 28th minute off an assist from Zurawski before Zurawski then scored his second goal of the game off an assist from Massimo Gallorini.
In the second half, Sebi Morello gave Stockton its second goal to come within one of tying the game, while Matos earned his second assist of the day. Ramapo secured its victory when Kyle Allen made it a 4-2 game in favor of the Roadrunners as Bokshi and Osbin Mendez earned the assists.
Ramapo posted 14 shots, including eight on goal, while Stockton tallied 19 shots, including eight on goal. Matthews recorded six saves in goal for Ramapo, and Liam Brett posted four for Stockton.
The NJAC Tournament begins on Saturday, Oct. 29 and Ramapo’s opponent will be announced shortly before then if the team does manage to qualify. With a conference record of 4-2-2, it looks like that will happen.
twaschek@ramapo.edu
Photo courtesy of Ramapo Athletics.
