ST. DAVIDS, Pa.-- For one half, Eastern University Men's
Soccer held No. 17 Rutgers-Camden scoreless and had some chances at the
lead. The visiting Scarlet Raptors found a goal early in the second half
and pulled away to a 5-0 result on a sweltering hot day.
Though Rutgers-Camden had more of the ball in the opening half, the guests held only a slim 6-5 edge in shots through the first 45 minutes. Eastern forward Eric Giovagnoli created several chances in the opening half, but the Eagles were unable to capitalize. Both teams had three corners in the first half.
Eastern's best chance came early in the third minute. Austin Stover won a tackle in the midfield and slid a pass into Giovagnoli. Giovagnoli tapped the ball over the defender with his left heel and gathered the
ball before his low shot glanced off a defender and slid only inches wide of the goal.
Giovagnoli had another quality chance in the 18th minute when JD Saracco split the Rutgers-Camden back line with a pass, but
Rutgers' goalkeeper Mike Randall slid into the ball before Giovagnoli could get a clean
shot off.
The Eagles dropped to 3-1 while Rutgers-Camden improved to 6-0.
The visitors applied early pressure in the second half. Less than a minute into the period, Joe Centeno made a spectacular save on a point-blank shot from Mike Ryan to keep the game at 0-0. That save, however, would only delay the scoring for a few more minutes.
Early in the 49th minute, Ryan timed a run perfectly to beat the Eastern back line to a ball and tuck home his eighth goal of the year.
As Eastern was forced to chase the game in the 90 degree heat, the Raptors were able to find more space on the field.
The Raptors made good use of the additional space. They put the game away with two high-quality goals in the 62nd and 69th minutes. An Eastern own goal 83rd minute made it 4-0 and the scoring ended on a restart goal late in the 88th minute. Rutgers-Camden had an 18-4 edge in goals scored coming into the game.
The Eagles look to bounce back when they play at Cabrini on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Box Score
