Rutgers Faces Second-Straight Red Division Foe
Oct 07 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers men’s soccer team (4-3-3, 1-2-2 BIG EAST) will return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 8 when it travels to Pennsylvania to take on Villanova (4-5-2, 1-2-2 BIG EAST) at 4:00 p.m.
“Villanova is always a good game,” said head coach Bob Reasso. “It’s a local derby against another BIG EAST team. They beat us in extra time last year but I thought we had the better of the play.”
The Scarlet Knights will look to secure valuable points in the highly-competitive BIG EAST Conference when they face the Wildcats for the 16th time. RU holds an 8-5-2 lead in the all-time series.
Rutgers played to a scoreless draw in its last game against another Red Division rival DePaul on Oct. 4. The Scarlet Knights are led by sophomore Dilly Duka (Montville, N.J.) who has six goals, a mark which ranks third in the conference. The team’s remaining six goals are spread among six other players who each have one tally each. Senior Kevin McFadden (Midlothian, Va.) has a squad-best and BIG EAST-leading six assists while freshman Sam Archer (Queens, N.Y.) follows with two assists.
Senior goalkeeper Amir Hagshenas (Wyckoff, N.J.) ranks among the league leaders with four shutouts on the season.
Villanova is currently on a four-game winless streak following losses, most recently to Cincinnati, Penn and Seton Hall and a scoreless tie to Georgetown. The Wildcats are led by Sean Mergenthal who has three goals, followed by five other players with one goal each. Michael Seamon has a team-best three assists while Danny DeMasters and Joe Taylor have two assists apiece.
“Playing there is always a challenge,” said Reasso. “Tom [Carlin] is a very good young coach. He was an assistant there last year and this is his first season as head coach. I’m sure he’ll have his team ready to play.”
The Scarlet Knights will play five-straight road matches following Wednesday’s contest at Syracuse (Oct. 11), Princeton (Oct. 15), Cincinnati (Oct. 18) and NJIT (Oct. 22).
