Koffeman Lifts Rutgers Past St. John's in OT
Oct 07 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers men's soccer team (7-6, 4-4 BIG EAST) defeated BIG EAST rival St. John's (7-4-2, 3-4-2 BIG EAST) in overtime, 2-1. Bart Koffeman (The Hague, Netherlands) scored the game-winning goal to give Rutgers its first win over SJU in six years. With the win, Rutgers now stands in second place in the BIG EAST's Red Division.
In front of the largest home crowd of the season, Rutgers dominated on offense, out-shooting the Red Storm, 23-7. For the majority of the first half, RU maintained possession and had several scoring opportunities. Kevin O'Connor (Freehold, N.J.) finally capitalized on one of those opportunities when he fired a shot into the upper portion of the net past SJU goalie Jason Landers in the 32nd minute of play. Michael Crowley (Newark, De.) had the assist on the goal as Rutgers went into halftime with the 1-0 lead.
The Scarlet Knights managed 11 more shots in the second half, but St. John's came out strong in the half, as well. In the 76th minute of play, SJU was finally able to put the ball in the net when Jara Habib fired a cross to Danny Dragoi. Dragoi had a clear path to the goal and put the ball past RU goalie Matt VanOekel (Chesapeake, Va.) to tie the game at one. Dragoi had another shot later in the half that just missed the cross bar, narrowly missing a chance to put his team ahead. Rutgers also had an opportunity to go ahead late in the game when Kyle Grato (Princeton Junction, N.J.) took a free kick with just over two minutes remaining, but Landers made a diving save to end the scoring threat, sending the game into overtime.
With just 2:53 remaining in overtime, Tomislav Barisic (Osijek, Croatia) took a corner kick, finding Koffeman who then footed the ball past Landers to win the game for the Scarlet Knights. The senior tri-captain now leads the team in goals with three. For Barisic, it was his second assist of the season.
Landers had an outstanding night in goal for St. John's, finishing with 12 saves, including several stops that prevented the Scarlet Knights from taking the lead during regulation.
Scarlet Knights head coach Bob Reasso gave his team a great deal of credit its defeat of such a difficult opponent.
"I thought all night long we were the better team," he said, "but St. John's is an outstanding program and a very well-coached team. It was a great effort by our team and I was proud of our guys. They kept battling and found a way to win. It was a well-deserved win."
The Scarlet Knights will now hit the road for two games, beginning with Penn on Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 7:30 p.m.
Soccer Game Summary (Final)
2006 Rutgers Men's Soccer
Rutgers vs. SJU (Oct. 7 at Piscataway, N.J.)
Rutgers (7-6, 4-4 BIG EAST) vs. SJU (7-4-2, 3-4-2 BIG EAST)
Date: Oct. 7, 2006 Attendance: 1879
Goals by Period: 1 2 OT Tot
SJU 0 1 0 1
Rutgers 1 0 1 2
Scoring Summary:
Shots: SJU - 7, RU - 23.
Saves: SJU - 12, RU - 1.
Time Team Goal Assist(s)
31:13 RU O'Connor, Kevin (2) Crowley, Michael
75:03 SJU Dragoi, Danny (1) Habib, Jara
97:45 RU Koffeman, Bart (3) Barisic, Tomislav
