Rutgers-Camden's late game-tying goal forces a 1-1 draw against Rowan
By Jay Palitto
Late-game heroics, chippy play, and miscues highlight a 1-1 tie between the Profs of Rowan University and the Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers-Camden in a NJAC Men's Soccer matchup in Glassboro last Saturday, October 5, 2024.
The Profs were coming off a one-point road victory against NJCU and, early on, it looked like they would win their second straight close game. The Scarlet Raptors were coming off a scoreless tie against Rutgers-Newark and were in danger of falling to .500 after falling behind early on Saturday.
The standout performances of this game lied with either side's goalie. Rowan's Dylan Aportela and Rutgers-Camden's Sean Boen were both able to make multiple great saves throughout that kept the game close. Boen especially had a busy day as Rowan's pressure was frequent with seven shots in the first half alone. Boen's four saves in that first half would become essential to keep his team in the game.
Boen's only real miscue was an ill-advised goal kick that led to Rowan taking the lead at 22:29. His soft and short kick was intercepted on a heads-up play by Rowan's Ryan Cleary which gave him an easy path to score the first goal of the game and his sixth of the season.
Rowan would hold on to this lead for most of the remainder of the game thanks to strong defense as well as great keeper play by Aportela. This changed at 85:10 with a foul resulting in a yellow card on Rowan's Greg Ferreira right outside the penalty box.
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The ensuing free-kick was sent into a crowd in front of Rowan's goal and Rutgers-Camden's Rohan Castillo was there to put it into the net to tie the game late. This goal looked to suck the life completely out of Rowan's team as the Scarlet Raptors pressure began to increase in the closing minutes and things began to get chippy.
The game was aggressive throughout but it saw an increase in the second half. The rise in rough play coincided with the slowing down of the Profs' offense, as Rowan looked very sluggish in the game's latter period. The pressure from Rowan became less and avoidable mistakes kept them from putting the game out of reach.
"We didn't bring the energy," said head coach Scott Baker following the game, "talent doesn't win games, effort does...we were playing as individuals today."
This was very apparent in the back half of the game as emotions seemed to take control on the parts of both sides' players. This became even more evident as there was also a larger-scale scuffle following the final whistle, the culmination of the high tensions that had been building throughout the whole game.
Rowan looks to get back in the win column at home again on Wednesday against the Shoremen of Washington College. With the Shoremen sitting at 5-2-4 and coming off back-to-back wins, Rowan will need to bring the effort that was missing in the second half last Saturday.
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