Rowan men’s soccer advances to the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championship, defeating Rutgers-Camden 1-0 in the semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Ryan Cleary scored the go-ahead goal at 56:17 after a beautiful offensive possession, and Dylan Aportela held down the defensive end with four saves for his seventh straight shutout win.
“I think we need to start the game with a little bit more energy,” head coach Scott Baker said. “Sometimes we see what the other team has, and then we slowly get there and pick it up. Hopefully, the guys are gaining confidence and realizing how great we are. Then, they can start the game with that confidence and that kind of energy to take over from the get-go.”
After a first-round bye, the Profs faced the physical Scarlett-Raptors, who were coming off a 1-0 win of their own against Rutgers-Newark. The first half displayed physicality and aggressiveness, and the Profs had to adjust.
“It was definitely physical,” Cleary said. “Trying to throw us off our game. Just coming off the bye, having those extra days off, I think we came out a little bit slow. Once we were able to find the ball, especially in the second half, things started to open up. Then, we got that goal, and we just had to lock it down from there.”
After a gritty first half, Rowan had to revisit what they had worked on in practice. It’s tough to be ready right away after a bye, and Baker had to light that fire in the guys to get the job done.
“The message was that it was a bad first half,” Baker said. “We needed a much better second half. Thankfully, the game is 90 minutes and there are two halves. They were physical, but they were making it sloppy. There was a lot of late fouls, pulling shirts and stuff from behind that was creating a sloppy game. We fought it off enough to keep it nothing-nothing and came back in the second half and obviously took care of the one great chance. We had some chances, had the ball a little bit more, and had better play.”
Cleary’s goal in the second came off a perfect possession, as Rowan pushed from the outside left back inside. Jason Barragan kicked to Johnny Troiano, and Troiano fed Cleary in the middle, leading to an open goal.
“Definitely practice and putting it into the game,” Cleary said. “I was kind of hovering around the 18. Then, I saw Johnny make the run in and I knew I just had to crash the front post because I knew the ball was coming. I was fortunate enough to get there and it was pretty much an open net from there.”
The physicality didn’t leave after the goal, as the teams battled their way to the finish line. The toughness made for a nerve-racking end to the contest.
“It was a good game,” Davide Caputo said. “They were a good opponent. We knew what we had to do. We know how they play. We worked on it all week in practice, so we were ready for the game, and we got the result we wanted.”
The Profs didn’t let the sloppy physicality get in their heads, sticking with the game plan and finding a way to secure the win through the heat in the kitchen.
“I think it’s just the buildup of the confidence in our system and in our guys,” Baker said. “Knowing that it’s frustrating, but that’s not going to stop us. We’re still going to fight to achieve our goal, but we’re not going to fight the stuff that doesn’t help us win. We’re going to keep a laser focus on what gets us wins, and that’s what we did today.”
The defense from everyone to end the game was elite. The Scarlett-Raptors had multiple opportunities to score, as they out-shot the Profs 13-10 on the night. The back end was able to hold off those opportunities to keep goals off the board.
“It’s just our guys, they’re great,” Caputo said. “It’s all because of the practice and the passion. We do it in practice every day. The crosses, defense, and finishing when the other team is countering us. It’s just to hit hard and makes sure they don’t get close to our goal.”
Rowan will have the Stockton Ospreys on deck at home in the NJAC Championship on Friday, Nov. 8.
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