ONEONTA, N.Y. – Eastern Men's Soccer saw its dream season come to an end in a 2-1 double-overtime loss to Rutgers-Camden in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.  

Eastern (16-3-2) took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute. After a Rutgers-Camden foul in the box, Jadon Ramsing buried a penalty kick for his sixth goal of the year.

The Scarlet Raptors (14-7-2) began to assert control. The NJAC Champions generated a couple of scoring opportunities over the next 15 minutes and finally broke through in the 28th minute. Grant Taylor scored his third of the season on an assist from Connor Hurff.

The two squads went to halftime knotted at 1-1.  Rutgers-Camden held a slight 7-4 edge in shots in the opening 45 minutes of play.

The game changed early in the second half. The Scarlet Raptors had pressure in the box and beat Eastern goalkeeper Quentin Keibler with a shot from close range. John Remsburg lunged to keep the ball out of the net, but all the senior center back could get on the ball was his upper arm. He saved the goal, but, by rule, any foul that denies a clear goal-scoring chance requires ejection from the match. Remsburg, who has been a stabilizing force for the Eagles all year, would have to leave the match and his team would have to play short-handed for the final 39 minutes of regulation and any time that came after that.

Remsburg's gamble almost worked. Keibler stopped the penalty kick and consecutive rebound attempts. The Eastern coaching staff scrambled to re-prioritize for the second half and beyond. The Eagles pulled a forward off and went into a full-fledged defensive shell in front of Keibler.

The Rutgers-Camden squad used the man advantage well and pushed the pace of the match. They registered 13 second-half shots. The Eagles were looking for an opening in the counter-attack that never came. Regardless, the Eastern defense did its job and kept the game level at 1-1 through regulation.

The Scarlet Raptors ripped five more shots in the first ten minute overtime, but again, the Eastern defense held its ground. The Eagles began the year with three overtime wins and picked up a fourth overtime win in the MAC Freedom Semifinal. Today, however, was a different game.

Hurff ended the game in the 103rd minute with his eighth goal of the year. The winning goal came on the 26th shot of the match for the Scarlet Raptors. Keibler made ten stops in the match.

"Congratulations to Rutgers," said Eastern Head Coach Mark Wagner after the game.  "They are a well-coached and organized team. I am proud of the way our guys played. I thought we did a great job of staying organized after we received the red card and playing with only ten men.  Seven of our starters were freshmen and sophomores.  We aim to be back and go further next time."

With 16 wins, this year's squad equals the NCAA Division III program-record set by the 2005 team. Eastern won 17 matches in 1975.