CAMDEN, N.J. (Sept. 18, 2013) – The Rutgers University-Camden soccer program started during the 1958 season, but never in its previous 55-year history did the team accomplish the landslide of accolades that the 2013 squad accomplished Wednesday night.

With a 1-0 win over Manhattanville College here at Rutgers-Camden Community Park, the Scarlet Raptors established new program standards for their best start ever, their longest winning streak and their longest two-year unbeaten string.

The Scarlet Raptors, who are tabbed among the national Top 10 in four different rankings, including No. 6 in the NSCAA Division III poll and No. 7 in the D3soccer.com Top 25, raised their record to 8-0, marking the first time they have ever been perfect through the first eight games of the season. The previous standard of 7-0-1 was set in 2008.

The eight-game winning streak also is a new standard, passing the seven the current team had shared with clubs from 1983, 1986, 1988 and 2008. The win also allowed the Raptors to stretch their unbeaten string to 20 (17-0-3) over the past two seasons, breaking the tie at 19 the team had shared with the clubs in 2003 (winning their last two games) and 2004 (opening the season with a 13-0-4 start).

Although the Scarlet Raptors dominated the game with a 25-5 advantage in shots and an 8-0 lead in corner kicks, the tie-breaking goal didn’t come easily. Led by the play of sophomore goalie Willie Silber (Holbrook, NY/Sachem East), the Valiants (2-6) hung in a scoreless game until midway through the second half, despite being outshot, 14-1, in the opening half. Silber finished with nine saves on the night.

Rutgers-Camden finally broke the deadlock on a goal by senior midfielder Stevan Austino (Buena, NJ/Buena Regional) at 63:32. He took a feed from sophomore midfielder Connor Hurff (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) on the right side of the box and fired a shot to the far side for his third goal of the season and first game-winning goal.

It was Hurff’s second assist of the season.

Raptor senior keeper Mike Randall (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East) collected two saves in earning his fifth shutout of the season. His biggest save came late in the contest when he recovered from a scramble in the box in time to pop up and save a close-range shot from freshman midfielder Omar Parra (Gulfport, MS/Gulfport), the Valiants’ leading scorer.

Randall’s other save came on a diving stop toward the right post in the first half off the lone Manhattanville shot, a bullet by freshman midfielder Jamie Macchia (Massapequa Park, NY/Massapequa).

Rutgers-Camden begins the defense of its back-to-back New Jersey Athletic Conference championships Saturday when it plays its first NJAC game in a 7:30 p.m. contest at Rutgers-Newark.

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