Photo by Pauline Park
After going 0-1-1 in their last two games following a 7-0-0 start, the Roadrunners missed out on the win column again, finishing their game against Rutgers-Camden in a 1-1 tie.
Ramapo’s 13th-year head coach DJ Pinton believes that the Roadrunners were challenged by a very solid goalkeeper in James Brett.
“He’s got a great save percentage; it’s over 90 percent in conference, [which is] real tough to score on, and he made it tougher for us.”
All of the game’s scoring took place in the first half.
Second-year forward Ryan Campbell gave the Roadrunners an early 1-0 advantage with his 10th goal of the season, which was assisted by fellow second-year forward Trevor Albrecht.
Rutgers-Camden tied the game in the 30th minute of the game when Clayton Taylor, a third-year midfielder, notched his third goal of the season on an unassisted goal.
From that point forward, both teams were held scoreless despite creating several scoring opportunities.
The Roadrunners recorded 21 shots for the game, and 15 of them were on goal, while Rutgers-Camden managed 19 shots with 10 of them on goal.
Both teams had numerous scoring chances, but they each had just one goal to show for it. Among other important stats, third-year goalkeeper and first-year captain Ryan Sprague added nine total saves to his stat sheet for the Roadrunners while his Rutgers-Camden counterpart in Brett tallied 14 saves in the net.
Campbell believed that his 10th goal started from great communication among his teammates
“People yelled, ‘Play it to Trev, play it to Trev, lay it off,’ because with his back to the goal, Trevor could see more with the ball, so we played it back to Trev, and Trev saw me open,” said Campbell. “He played a beautiful ball through, and at the point, it was just me inside the 18, and [I] just [had to] find a way to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Sprague said that the defense needs to keep the ball out of the middle to make it easier to defend, and to keep opposing shots in check.
“Just to limit the shots – keep the shots outside of the middle of the goal, keep them outside, make it easier for us to defend, for us to save,” said Sprague.
Rutgers-Camden had the slight edge in corner kicks with a 10-6 advantage in that department.
With the 1-1 draw, the Roadrunners’ record stands at 7-1-2 overall, and 1-1-2 against teams in the NJAC.
The Roadrunners have an NJAC game coming up on Saturday at The College of New Jersey at 1:00 p.m.
pmcguire@ramapo.edu
