Penalty Kick Ends Rutgers' Season
Nov 04 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Although the Rutgers University men's soccer team dominated the ball for much of the game, a crucial Cincinnati penalty kick led to the deciding goal as the Scarlet Knights playoff hopes were dashed at Yurcak Field Saturday evening.
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Tomislav Barisic advances the ball. Photo by Jim O'Connor/NJ Sport Pics |
The games only goal came after a foul was called on RU's goalkeeper Matt VanOekel (Chesapeake, Va.) in the 60th minute. The foul led to a penalty kick for Cincinnati, who had only mustered one shot up to that point. VanOekel guessed wrong and dove to the left side of the goal as Cincinnati's Noah Davidson blasted the games only goal into the right side of the net.
The Scarlet Knights dominated play for nearly the entire match as they managed 16 shots to the Bearcats three. RU also managed to gain three corner kicks, while Cincinnati garnered one.
"I don't know if we could have dominated the game much more and still lose," said Rutgers head coach Bob Reasso. "We had the ball for 75 percent of the game and still couldn't score."
Rutgers' best chance in a scoreless first half came in the 12th minute when senior Chris Moore (Gosforth, England) blasted a shot from the right side that missed left by inches. Moore, senior Adam Sternberger (Mays Landing, N.J.) and sophomore Tomislav Barisic (Osijek, Croatia) all recorded three shots in the game.
Ten minutes into the second half, RU had another great scoring chance as Moore crossed the ball onto junior Tim McRae's (Winter Park, Fla.) head, but the ball sailed just high keeping the game scoreless. After the Bearcats took the lead on the penalty kick, Sternberger immediately tried to knot the game at one apiece as he blasted a shot from the top of the box that was saved by Cincinnati goalkeeper Miguel Rosales.
In the final three minutes of the contest, the Scarlet Knights tallied a flurry of shots from Sternberger, freshman Dilly Duka (Montville, N.J.) and even goalkeeper VanOekel managed a shot on goal. However, Rosales and the Bearcats defense were up to the challenge as they completed the shutout.
"This isn't the game that put us out of the BIG EAST Tournament," said Reasso. "We needed to do a better job during the year and it wouldn't have come down to this."
Prior to the match, coach Reasso and the Rutgers men's soccer team recognized seven student-athletes for their contributions made to the success of the program. Seniors Tae Rho (New York, N.Y.), Kyle Grato (Princeton Junction, N.J.), Jake Martenson (Winchester, N.J.), VanOekel, Moore, Sternberger, and Kevin O'Connor (Freehold, N.J.) were all honored in a Senior Day Ceremony.
