2006 Women's Soccer Season Review
Dec 22 | Women's Soccer
The Rutgers women's soccer team made its seventh-consecutive appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament, advancing to the championship for the first time in school history. The Scarlet Knights also received their fourth-ever appearance in the NCAA Championships and posted only the fourth tournament win in program history.
Four seniors led the Scarlet Knights in 2006 in Nicole Aquila (Piscataway, N.J.), Kim Brandao (Rahway, N.J.), Jaime Komar (Matawan, N.J.) and Kim Mineo (Glen Rock, N.J.)
Aquila played in 39 matches in her career, making 13 starts. Her first collegiate point came during her freshman season, when she assisted on the game-winning goal in Rutgers' win against Providence. In 2004, she made eight starts and was named a BIG EAST Academic All-Star. This season, Aquila has played in seven games for the Scarlet Knights, making one start.
Brandao was a two-year co-captain who started 83 out of the 84 matches in which she's played. She scored two goals in 2006, including one to seal a win over Princeton. She was named to the all-tournament team at the JMU/Comfort Inn Classic. She earned TopDrawer-Soccer.com's National Team of the Week honors and is a three-time All-BIG EAST second team selection. In 2004, she was named to the Soccerbuzz Mid-Atlantic Regional All-third team and was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week twice that season, also earning a spot on the Soccer America and Soccerbuzz National Teams of the Week Sept. 14. In her sophomore season, she was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team, the Soccerbuzz Mid-Atlantic Region All-Second Team and the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Region All-Third Team. Brandao scored her first collegiate goal, the game-winner, at Virginia Tech. As a freshman, she was named to the Soccerbuzz Mid-Atlantic Region All-Freshman Team and the BIG EAST All-Rookie Team. Brandao is a BIG-EAST Academic All-Star.
Komar played in 72 matches for Rutgers, making 51 starts. She had four assists in 2006, including assisting on gamewinners at James Madison and against South Florida. She also had an assist on Courtney Roarty's (Edison, N.J.) first goal in the BIG EAST semifinals. As a junior, Komar helped lead a Rutgers defense that posted a 0.88 goals-against average and eight shutouts. She played in 18 matches in 2004, making five starts, and took three shots. In her freshman season, Komar played in 10 matches for the Scarlet Knights, making two starts, and had two assists for two points. She scored her first collegiate point with an assist on the game-winning goal in the Scarlet Knights' 3-0 win against Stony Brook on Aug. 31 and assisted on the game-winning goal in Rutgers' 1-0 victory against Villanova. Komar is a two-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star.
Mineo played in 73 matches for the Scarlet Knights, including four starts. In 2005, she played in 16 matches, scoring two goals and as a sophomore, played in 19 matches, scoring her first career goal, a game-winner, as Rutgers won a 1-0 conference match against Syracuse. She had one assist for one point as a freshman and made her first career start against Arizona State on Sept. 7 at the Notre Dame Classic. Mineo collected her first collegiate point with the assist on the game-winning goal in the 1-0 double-overtime victory at Syracuse. She is a three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star.
The Scarlet Knights recorded a program-best 16-3-4 overall mark, including a 8-1-2 BIG EAST record in 2006, as well as reaching the team's first-ever conference final. Following the BIG EAST Tournament, Rutgers earned its fourth at-large bid into the NCAA Championships, including hosting the opening two rounds.
Rutgers broke a number of single-season records, including wins (16), shutouts (26) and conference wins (8). The 2006 squad is also the first to hold opponents to just six goals in the regular season and have a starting goalkeeper with 12 shutouts.
The Scarlet Knights earned its highest-ever ranking by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) during the last week of the season, as they took the 12th slot in the national poll. In the season-ending poll by the NSCAA, Rutgers was picked 13th (Dec. 5).
Soccerbuzz picked the Scarlet Knights 11th in its final poll, as Rutgers appeared in the organization's rankings for seven-straight weeks for the first time in school history. In the mid-atlantic regional poll, Soccerbuzz ranked the Scarlet Knights second, behind only Penn State.
With Rutgers' win over West Virginia (Nov. 3), the Scarlet Knights broke the previous school record for wins in a season (14), posting their 15th victory of the 2006 campaign. The win over Hartford in the first round of the NCAA tournament helped Rutgers extend the record to 16 victories. The mark was previously set during the 1996 and 2001 seasons.
The match-up with Hartford (Nov. 10) marked the 15th shutout on the year for the Scarlet Knights. They extended the school record for shutouts in a season, previously 11, set during the 1996 campaign. Rutgers also broke the school record for most wins at home with nine with the victory over Hartford (Nov. 10), a mark previously set by teams in 1987, 1992, and 1996.
Rutgers' home match with Boston College tied the school record for most home contests, set during the 2001 campaign.
Following his seventh season at the helm of the Rutgers program, head coach Glenn Crooks was named the Soccerbuzz Mid-Atlantic Region Runner-Up Coach of the Year. The award is the second for Crooks as he was named the Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year after a Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAA Tournament by the Scarlet Knights in 2001. That season, Rutgers finished 14th in the national poll by the NSCAA and was rated 18th by Soccerbuzz at the end of the season.
Alicia Hall (Port Republic, N.J.), Gina DeMaio (Parsippany, N.J.) and Brandao were all named to the BIG EAST Second Team for the 2006 campain. Brandao earned second team honors for the third time in her career, while Hall and DeMaio were first-time honorees.
Freshmen Erin Guthrie (Sparta, N.J.) and Jenifer Anzivino (Middletown, N.J.) earned spots on the Top Drawer Soccer All-Rookie Team, while senior co-captain Kim Brandao was named to the organization's national first team.
Brandao, DeMaio, and Hall were also recognized by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), as Brandao was named first-team All-Mid-Atlantic and DeMaio and Hall were named to the second and third teams, respectively.
On Dec. 14, Meghan Ryan (Crofton, Md.), Anzivino, Brandao, DeMaio, Guthrie, and Hall were recognized by Soccerbuzz as part of the organization's post season national and regional awards.
Brandao was named to the Soccerbuzz Third Team All-America, her first national honor after being selected to all-regional squads during her junior season (2004) by both NSCAA and Soccerbuzz.
DeMaio collected three Soccerbuzz accolades, including First Team Freshman All-America honors, one of only 12 first-year players to earn the award. She was also named to the first team All-Freshman Mid-Atlantic Region and Second Team All-Mid-Atlantic.
Rookie goalkeeper Guthrie was named to the Soccerbuzz Second Team All-America Freshman and also earned regional all-freshman honors. Hall earned Soccerbuzz First Team All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors, while Anzivino was named to the Soccerbuzz Mid-Atlantic Region All-Freshman team.
Starting center back and 2006 co-captain, Ryan racked up her first post season accolades as she was named to the Soccerbuzz All-Mid-Atlantic Region second team.
DeMaio was also named a finalist for the Soccerbuzz Freshman of the Year.
Midfielder Tierney Brady (Brick, N.J.) earned Second Team NSCAA/adidas Scholar All-East Region Honors for her performance on the field and in the classroom. The exercise science and sports studies major has a 3.72 GPA and has served a big role in Rutgers' success at midfield. Brady assisted on the gamewinner in a defeat of Louisville (Oct. 22). In the BIG EAST semifinals against West Virginia (Nov. 3), Brady assisted on Courtney Roarty's first goal that catalyzed a Scarlet Knight three-goal unaswered comeback win against the Mountaineers. In order to be eligible for the award, a player must be a junior or senior, starting at least half of her team's games, as well as owning a GPA of 3.3 or higher, and being a significant contributor to the team.
The Scarlet Knights played in the BIG EAST Championship final for the first time in school history, where they fell to top-ranked Notre Dame, 4-2. The two goals marked the first goals against the Irish since Notre Dame played Villanova on Oct. 20.
Rutgers' appearance in the BIG EAST Championship semifinals was only the second in school history. The first time the Scarlet Knights advanced to semifinals was during the 2002 season where they faced West Virginia on Nov. 8. Despite leading 2-1 in the second half, the Scarlet Knights fell in the semifinals, 3-2, to the Mountaineers.
The victory over Louisville (Oct. 22) marked the eighth BIG EAST win for Rutgers, the first time in program history the team has won eight conference matches.
The Scarlet Knights' have continued the tradition of strong, organized defense started seven years ago when head coach Glenn Crooks arrived "On the Banks." Rutgers is ranked 10th nationally with a 0.67 shutout percentage and 18th with a goals-against average of 0.551. The Scarlet Knights allowed just 12 goals from opponents in 22 games this season.
Though Rutgers received goals from 12 different players this season, the freshman class contributed 23 goals to the Rutgers offense. Soccerbuzz ranked the class 16th nationally in the among Division I programs. The Scarlet Knights scored 31 goals total.
The Scarlet Knights won five matches by a 1-0 score this season, including double-overtime wins against DePaul (Oct. 6) and Syracuse (Oct. 16). The last time RU won five 1-0 decisions was during the 1993 campaign.
