The Roadrunner Men's Soccer team has arrived as one of the elite teams in both Region 19 and the Garden State Athletic Conference.

With Saturday's 3-0 triumph over No. 7 nationally ranked Raritan Valley CC, the Runners earned made their mark among the top tier teams in the region and conference.

"With the way we played today and in the past several games, our team should be mentioned in the national conversation," Coach George Hobbins told his team following the impressive victory over the talented Lions' squad. "You battled and fought hard all the way -- well done!"

See photo highlights from Lydia FitzGerald 

The Runners used two second half goals from freshman Robert Piontkowski along with the game0winner from freshman midfielder Gilmer Mendoza to seal the outcome.

Despite dominating the first half of play with an aggressive offensive attack, the Runners found themselves in a scoreless tie at halftime. Mendoza finally broke through with the first goal at 67:34 for a 1-0 lead, opening the floodgates as Piontkowski added a second goal with an assist from Mendoza followed by a penalty kick score for the final of 3-0.

Goalkeepr Lucien Maslin held off seconf-half pressure from the Lions to earn the shutout. RCSJ outshot the visitors by a 12-6 count.

Watch Interview with Rob Piontkowski

Watch Interview with Gilmer Mendoza

Watch Interview with Lucien Maslin

"We do our best work in the second half," said Piontkowski. "We had them on the ropes in the first half, and we knew we couldn't let up. Once we broke through with Gilmer's goal, we knew we wouldn't be stopped."

Next up for the Runners is a home match on Tuesday vs. GSAC rival Ocean County College in a 4 pm kick off.