Galloway, NJ – Stockton University (3-3) made a valiant comeback late but fell short to Rutgers-Camden (2-3-1) by a 2-1 score on Wednesday night in the NJAC Tournament. Freshman
Connor Smith (Hazlet/Raritan) scored the Ospreys lone goal of the evening.
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The Scarlet Raptors took the play to the home team early and got on the board at 27:33 when Skyler Diggs stole the ball from Stockton net minder
Dino Gromitsaris (Bordentown/Bordentown) and tapped the tally in for a 1-0 lead.
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With less than four minutes before the break, George Louis-Ferdinand took a long pass from beyond midfield from Raimondo Partito and beat Gromitsaris with a header to give the visitors a 2-0 lead at the break.
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The Ospreys had a chance to get within one in the 67th minute, when
Ervin Gjeli (Hasbrouck Heights/Hasbrouck Heights) was fouled in the box, resulting in a penalty kick. Gjeli's attempt was turned away and the match remained at 2-0 until 1:40 remained in regulation.
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With Stockton desperately seeking a score, the ball came out to Smith and from about 25 yards away, his blast hit the crossbar and went in to slice the margin in half at 2-1. It was the rookie's first career goal. Unfortunately, the Ospreys could not come up with the tying marker and the match ended in the 2-1 final, ending the season for Stockton.
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Gromitsaris made two saves in net for Stockton, while his counterpart Juan Bahena turned away five attempts for Rutgers-Camden.
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