By Joey Bachich
Staff Writer
The Lions pulled out a 2-1 victory on senior night against the Rutgers-Camden Scarlet Raptors. Their hard-fought win gave a sweet ending to the College’s season.
Rutgers-Camden rolled into Ewing on senior night to face off against the Lions. It has been a rough year for the College, who entered the game 3-12-2, with seven of those losses resulting from only one goal. Rutgers-Camden came in at 8-6-3 and was looking for a win before playing in the NJAC tournament.
The Lions recognized three seniors, starting with public health grad student Dante Bettino who plays defense. He started 87% of games and was a staple at the back over his three year career.
Next was goalie and finance major Julian Franco, who has started every game since sophomore year and has fantastic save totals, making 245 saves in three years.
Finally, there was forward marketing major Luke Pascarella, who has from day one has been the midfield playmaker for the Lions, acquiring an All-NJAC honorable mention his sophomore year.
The Lions came out in this game on their back foot with Franco making a steller sliding stop in the first couple minutes of the game.
After putting out the fire, the Lions would settle into the game and get their first goal around the 20-minute mark, after a ball was spilled in the box right in front of freshman mechanical engineering major Matias Hornos.
Shots after the first half slightly favored the Lions 13-11. The second half was more of the same with both teams being fairly even and neither dominating possession for a long stretch of time.
Freshman finance major Chris Meder doubled the lead around the 1-hour mark in the game, which gave the Lions some breathing room after the Lions caught Rutgers-Camden on a counter attack, with Meder putting away the second goal. Rutgers-Camden got one back with just 9 minutes to play.
The Lions fought off the pressure for the remainder of the game, giving them a win in their final game of the season.
