Montclair, NJ – Sophomore Fabio De Sousa scored once and then assisted on an insurance goal in the final minute at 19
th-ranked Rutgers-Newark blanked Montclair State, 2-0 at MSU Soccer Park on Saturday afternoon.
Senor Hubert Duhl had a goal as the Scarlet Raiders (17-2) posted their second straight shutout victory and locked up a first-round bye in the upcoming NJAC Tournament. The Raiders also remained in the Hunt for the regular-season title at 7-1 in the NJAC, a half-game behind Rowan (7-0-1).
Junior goalkeeper
MIKE SAALFRANK stopped 11 shots for the Red Hawks, who fell to 11-6-1 on the season. The Red Hawks are now 4-4 in conference play, tied with Kean University for third-place. MSU owns the tiebreaker with the Cougars having posted a 7-3 victory earlier this season.
Rutgers-Newark outshot MSU 17-5 in the first half but the game remained scoreless thanks in part to Saalfrank, who made 10 stops in the first 45 minutes. Saalfrank made a save against Stefano Muniz in the 12
th minute and hen denied Arek Szoldrowski and Isaiah Kuris on back-to-back attempts.
The Red Hawks would get their chances as well however Andres Medina made a stop against
RAFAEL TERCI in the 24
th minute and a follow-up from
MIKE TARANTO was also snared.
De Sousa clanged one off the left post in the 29
th minute and three more saves by Saalfrank sent the game into halftime scoreless.
Rutgers-Newark would break through in the 61
st minute as De Sousa netted his 15
th goal of the year. Adrian Velazquez sent a perfect cross from the right side into the middle of the box where a charging De Sousa headed the ball inside the right post giving the Raiders the 1-0 lead.
Two minutes later, MSU nearly tied the contest with an almost carbon copy goal but
RAFAEL TERCI's head went just wide.
In the final two minutes, the Red Hawks were awarded a free kick.
IAN JOHNSON sent a ball down inside the box at the left post. Freshman
CHAZ BURNETT collected the ball, turned a flipped a shot through a crowd toward the right post.
DEVAUGHN FOSTER appeared to knock the ball into the net for the tying goal however no signal was made and the Raiders were able to clear it.
In the confusion of the non-call, the Raiders pushed the ball up the field. De Sousa drove in along the left side before sliding a pass over to Dul, who beat Saalfrank inside the right post with 59 seconds remaining.
Montclair State closes out its regular season on Wednesday, October 25 at New Jersey City University with kickoff set for 3:00 pm.
