NEWARK, NJ – Sophomore goaltender Matt Broomall stopped nine shots as Rutgers-Newark used a second-half spurt to down William Paterson, 4-1, in the opening round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship Tournament.

Rutgers-Newark (16-4-1) advances to Wednesday's semifinal round at second-seeded Montclair State (15-2-2) at 7 p.m. The College of New Jersey (12-5-2), a 2-0 winner over Richard Stockton (16-6-2) earlier today in the other opening round contest, visits top-seeded Rutgers-Camden (17-0-2) at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. The championship match will be held at the home site of the highest surviving seed on November 9.

NJAC Men's Soccer Championship Bracket (PDF)

Under the lights on Alumni Field, Broomall blanked the Pioneers (8-8-2) for the first 62 minutes as the Scarlet Raiders constructed a 4-0 lead on the strength of a second half flurry. Rutgers-Newark won despite getting out-shot 16-10 and having WPU take five of the six corner kicks in the contest.

Junior midfielder Bonny Londono blasted a shot into the left side of the goal 12:13 in the fray and Broomall made five saves to stake the Raiders to a slim 1-0 halftime lead.

Junior forward Raphael Araujo netted goals two minutes apart in the opening minutes of the second half and assisted on a third goal in the 57th minute to give the Raiders control of the match. The goals were his 25th and 26th of the season, extending his R-N season record and pushing his season point total to 58 – another Raider season mark.

Freshman midfielder Anthony DeRisi redirected a deflection by a Pioneer defender in the box to Araujo who put away the game winner just 35 seconds into the second period. Two minutes and three seconds later, Araujo ran onto a long punt by Broomall on the left side and one-timed a 25-yard shot into the right side of the goal to stun the visitors.

DeRisi's assist was his 16th of the season and gave him a dozen matches in a row with an assist as he extended his R-N records in those categories.

In the 58th minute, Araujo sent a pass back toward the right side of the 18 from the right side of the goal to junior midfielder Diego Moraes who fired a shot into far side to finish the Raiders' second-half outburst.

WPU got on the board when sophomore midfielder Jose Arevalo slide onto a sharp cross into the middle of the box from the right side by freshman forward Leandro Lemache in the 63rd minute.

Broomall would make two more saves down the stretch against five Pioneer shots to maintain the 3-goal margin and give him a season-high for saves while WPU freshman Mike Diacheysn finished with two stopped shots.

It marked the Raiders' second win over WPU on Alumni Field in eight days. Rutgers-Newark edged the Pioneers, 3-2, on Senior Day on October 26 in the regular-season meeting between the teams.