Balanced Attack Leads Rutgers Over Saint Peters, 5-1
Oct 19 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, NJ - Five different players scored goals as the Rutgers men's soccer team defeated Saint Peter's 5-1 on Wednesday night at Yurcak Field. The Scarlet Knights (6-7-2) registered a season-high 23 shots and improved to 4-1-2 over their last seven games. Saint Peter's falls to 6-6-3 with the loss.
The Rutgers offense, which broke out last week with six goals in wins over Bucknell and DePaul, continued its momentum in the first half, as the Scarlet Knights scored three goals on 10 shots. Bart Koffeman (The Hague, Holland) got things started at the 22:37 mark, taking a throw-in pass from Brinker Dailey (Atlanta, GA) and heading the ball past SPC goalie Pat Nagawiecki to give RU an early 1-0 advantage.
Less than five minutes later, Rutgers struck again, this time as Adam Sternberger (Petersburg, NJ) headed a perfect cross from Sean Cameron (North Brunswick, NJ) from five yards in front of the goal. It was Sternberger's fourth tally of the year.
Sophomore Kyle Grato (West Windsor, NJ), playing in just his seventh game of the year after missing time due to an injury, got into the scoring column for the first time this season when he rocketed a shot from 10 yards out off a pass from Chris Moore (New Castle, England) with 3:10 left in the first half. For Grato, the goal marked his first collegiate points.
Saint Peter's scored in the 59th minute when Kevin Hudson took a pass from Carlos Villacres and converted a shot that hit the top of the cross bar and bounced past goalie Matt VanOekel (Chesapeake, VA) to make the score 3-1. That was as close as SPC came, however, as Nick LaBrocca (Howell, NJ) provided all the insurance RU would need when he was in position to blast home a rebounded shot following a save by Nagawiecki in the 84th minute. It was LaBrocca's team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Senior Scott Gahagan (Old Bridge, NJ) scored the fifth goal for RU, finishing a one-on-one breakaway with just 38 seconds left in regulation. The five goals were the most a Rutgers team had scored since beating Notre Dame 5-2 on Oct. 11, 2003.
VanOekel earned his third consecutive starting nod, finishing with three saves. The defense in front of him, led by Koffeman, Cameron, Dailey and Jake Martenson (Winchester, VA), allowed just 11 shots. The Scarlet Knights outshot the Peacocks, 23-11, marking the 10th time in 15 games that RU has finished with more shots than its opponent.
Rutgers' offense has accounted for 11 goals over the past three games, registering 51 shots in wins over Bucknell, DePaul and Saint Peter's.
"We got balanced scoring tonight and the kids played very well," said head coach Bob Reasso. "Now we have to see what we can do in the next two games against quality BIG EAST opponents in South Florida and Syracuse. We've really picked up our play in the last three weeks of the season, and this is the most important time of the year to have momentum."
Rutgers returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 22, when it hosts BIG EAST Red Division-leading South Florida at 7:00 p.m. at Yurcak Field.
Soccer Box Score (Final)
2005 Rutgers Men's Soccer
Saint Peter's vs Rutgers (Oct 19, 2005 at Piscataway, NJ)
Saint Peter's (6-6-2) vs. Goals by period 1 2 Tot
Rutgers (6-7-2) -------------------------------
Date: Oct 19, 2005 Attendance: 457 Saint Peter's....... 0 1 - 1
Weather: Partly cloudy Rutgers............. 3 2 - 5
Saint Peter's Rutgers
Pos # Player Sh SOG G A Pos # Player Sh SOG G A
------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------
GK 18 Nagawiecki, Pat..... - - - - GK 28 VANOEKEL, Matt...... - - - -
4 Cuba, Christian..... - - - - 2 MARTENSON, Jake..... - - - -
5 Villacres, Carlos... 2 1 - 1 4 DAILEY, Brinker..... 1 - - 1
7 Orias, Marco........ 1 - - - 6 KOFFEMAN, Bart...... 2 1 1 -
10 Gaviria, Juan....... 3 1 - - 7 STERNBERGER, Adam... 5 3 1 -
14 Groves, Alano....... - - - - 8 LABROCCA, Nick...... 3 2 1 -
19 DeAbreu, Chris...... - - - - 9 SIMI, Zach.......... 2 2 - -
23 Breedy, Gamal....... - - - - 10 O'CONNOR, Kevin..... 1 1 - -
25 Edwards, Jereri..... - - - - 11 MOORE, Chris........ 2 2 - 1
27 Gaynor, Damion...... - - - - 17 CAMERON, Sean....... 1 - - 1
28 Owusu, Sylvers...... - - - - 22 LLOYD, Adam......... - - - -
---------- Substitutes ---------- ---------- Substitutes ----------
6 Wiredu, Murphy...... 1 1 - - 12 GAHAGAN, Scott...... 3 1 1 -
8 Nwigwe, Franklin.... - - - - 14 BREZNITSKY, Ryan.... - - - -
11 Raposo, Jose........ - - - - 15 GRATO, Kyle......... 3 2 1 -
16 Prada, Victor....... - - - - 16 PETERSEN, Oliver.... - - - -
17 Medeiros, Michael... - - - - 21 SALYER, Chad........ - - - -
20 Hudson, Kevin....... 4 1 1 - Totals.............. 23 14 5 3
Totals.............. 11 4 1 1
Saint Peter's Rutgers
# Player MIN GA Saves # Player MIN GA Saves
--------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------
18 Nagawiecki, Pat..... 90:00 5 9 28 VANOEKEL, Matt...... 90:00 1 3
Shots by period 1 2 Tot Saves by period 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Saint Peter's....... 2 9 - 11 Saint Peter's....... 4 5 - 9
Rutgers............. 10 13 - 23 Rutgers............. 1 2 - 3
Corner kicks 1 2 Tot Fouls 1 2 Tot
------------------------------- -------------------------------
Saint Peter's....... 1 4 - 5 Saint Peter's....... 6 6 - 12
Rutgers............. 1 0 - 1 Rutgers............. 5 5 - 10
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team Goal Scorer Assists
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. 22:37 RUTGERS KOFFEMAN, Bart (1) DAILEY, Brinker
2. 25:55 RUTGERS STERNBERGER, Adam (4) CAMERON, Sean
3. 41:50 RUTGERS GRATO, Kyle (1) MOORE, Chris
4. 59:02 SPCMENS Hudson, Kevin (3) Villacres, Carlos
5. 84:04 RUTGERS LABROCCA, Nick (5) (unassisted)
6. 89:22 RUTGERS GAHAGAN, Scott (2) (unassisted)
CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS:
YC-RUTGERS #7 (48:41); YC-RUTGERS #6 (89:10)
Officials: Referee: Ken Andres; Asst. Referee: Demetrious Memos; Alt. Official: Daun White;
Timekeeper: J. Paolini; Scorer: M. Basford;
Offsides: Saint Peter's 0, Rutgers 6.
ID-369168
