NEW YORK – The Columbia men's soccer team netted a pair of first half goals en route to a 2-1 victory over Rutgers on a chilly evening at Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium.
 
With their third straight victory over Rutgers, the Lions improve to 7-4-1 on the season, while the Scarlet Knights fall to 4-11-1.
 
Columbia got on the board early in the match, thanks to some nice teamwork on the front line. Just over four minutes into the game, Nike Azuma sent a cross into the box from the left side, which scurried past a pair of Rutgers defenders and found the foot of Matthew Swain on the right. After he made a nice move to the middle, Swain fired a left-footed attempt that went past Rafael Pereira for the score.
 
Although the goal for Swain was the first of his career, he would not stop the scoring output. In the 15th minute of action, Beto Carrillo made a run up the left side and sent a cross into the box from near the same spot on the field Azuma crossed to Swain. This time, Carrillo's cross found Swain's head, and then Swain connected with the head of Kynan Rocks in the middle of the box for the second goal of the game.
 
"Everyone helped to just give me chances and luckily I was able to get my first goal," said Swain. "We need to keep on winning as a team, and any time we can get more guys into it during a midweek game, that helps get us ready for the Ivy League opponents."
 
With a 2-0 lead, Rutgers would keep the pressure on, finding a lot of success on the counter-attack. Near the end of the first half, Brian Hawkins from the Scarlet Knights sent a long forward ball that connected with Jordan Hall, who entered the contest with 12 goals on the season. The senior would find number 13, beating Dylan Castanheira to make it a 2-1 contest going into the break.
 
While neither team was able to break through for a second half score, both would have their chances. Castanheira came up big with saves on attempts from Vincenzo Pugliese in the 48th minute, a header attempt from Miles Hackett five minutes later, another shot from Hall in the 82nd minute, and an attempt by Brendan Wall with four minutes to play.
 
Columbia's best look in the second half happened when Vittorio Luzio had a shot saved from Pereira, then the rebound went out to Francisco Agrest in the middle of the field, but the open look from Agrest went over the crossbar.
 
Castanheira got the win in net for Columbia, saving four shots for his seventh victory this year. In total, 20 players saw action tonight for the Lions, with Nick Marcin starting his first career match, and Pierce Pomykal, Lucho Gazcon, and Luzio seeing their first action of 2018.
 
The Lions are back in action Saturday at Yale in a 1:00 p.m. contest on ESPN+.