CAMDEN, NJ - The men's soccer team didn't pull out a monumental upset on the road Wednesday night. They didn't upend a top-25 ranked team in the nation, and they weren't able to magically hang onto a 2-2 deadlock with less than 20 minutes to play.

But what the Crimson Eagles did do under the bright lights Wednesday night against Rutgers-Camden is prove they are capable of playing with, if not downright scaring, one of the top Division III teams in the country.

If the Scarlet Raptors came into the contest expecting the PBU men's soccer team to just roll over, it got anything but. The Crimson Eagles scrapped, scuffled, and traded blows with the 20^th ranked team in the nation, giving Rutgers-Camden all it could handle before succumbing in a 3-2 dogfight that saw PBU with the lead or tied for almost 72 minutes of the match.

With the stat sheet lopsided somewhat statistically, PBU made sure capitalize on their chances, beginning with junior forward Jeremy Dunham’s rocket to break a 0-0 draw just 14:28 into the game. Dunham fired a missile 25 yards out from the right of the box that slipped past the outstretched arms of rookie keeper Tim VanLiew to give the Crimson Eagles a 1-0 advantage.

With Rutgers’ high pressured offense pounding PBU’s back line with 10 first half shots, junior midfielder Dom Crocetti finally cracked the Scarlet Raptors’ scoreless drought, tapping home a rebound off a save from sophomore keeper Andy Ecker with 15 to play in the opening period.

With the game tied one-all at the break, things soon took a turn for the worse when Rutgers forward Todd Kleinstubber found the back of the net off a feed on a corner. But the visitors quickly erased any early celebrations in the Scarlet Raptors’ home opener as sophomore defender Mike Zimmerman dropped in his first goal of the year just 1:08 later to even things at two-apiece.

Unfortunately, an upset victory would fail to come full swing as a highly touted Rutgers squad continued to pound Ecker in goal, firing 24 shots for the game (PBU finished with six) and eventually registering their third goal of the evening with just 16:47 remaining. Ecker, who proved to be somewhat an impenetrable wall the majority of the contest, couldn’t come up with another one of his miracle sprawled-out saves on Turgut Kilicoglu’s rifle from inside the 18.

Rutgers’ third consecutive win to open the year is their third straight triumph by a solo goal. On the opposite end, it marks PBU’s second straight loss to open the season by a single tally.

Although the loss drops PBU to 0-2 to begin the season for the first time in three years, the young Crimson Eagle squad played admirably Wednesday night, picking up some much-needed confidence in the process. The soccer team will look to build on Wednesday’s contest at home this weekend as PBU returns to the field this Saturday to take on Wells College at 1:00 p.m.