Rutgers
No. 19 Villanova
Rutgers Defeats Villanova 5-0 on Carli Lloyd Night
Sep 22 | Women's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - On a night when Rutgers (7-1, 2-0) retired the No. 10 jersey of former standout Carli Lloyd, the team earned a 5-0 win over BIG EAST foe Villanova (7-2, 0-2), Monday at Yurcak Field. Six Scarlet Knights tallied points in the win, including junior Gina DeMaio (Parsippany, N.J.), who tied her career-high with three assists.
| Gina DeMaio tied her career-high with three assists against the Wildcats. (Tom Ciszek/NJSportsPhoto) |
Rutgers opened the scoring on a free kick in the 12th minute, when DeMaio sent the ball from 30 yards out to the left side of the box, where senior Alicia Hall (Port Republic, N.J.) was able to head it in. Fifteen minutes later, DeMaio again sent a long pass to the left side of the box, where junior Caycie Gusman (Honolulu, Hawaii) was able to volley it past Villanova goalkeeper Molly Williams.
Hall recorded her second goal of the game in the 33rd minute off a pass from classmate Kristen Edmonds (Metuchen, N.J.). Edmonds dribbled to the back line on the right side of the goal and sent a pass into the front of the box, where Hall kicked it in to give RU a 3-0 halftime lead.
Rutgers kept up the offensive pressure in the second half, when sophomore Ashley Medcalf (Waipahu, Hawaii) scored in the 56th minute for the first goal of her career. On a free kick, DeMaio sent it to sophomore Ashley Jones (Feasterville, Pa.) who tapped it to Medcalf, who kicked it in for the 4-0 advantage. Edmonds finished the scoring for RU with a 35-yard screamer that went into the upper right side of the box.
Junior goalkeeper Erin Guthrie (Sparta, N.J.) recorded three saves before being pulled in the 79th minute for freshman Casey Rupon (Whitehouse Station, N.J.). The five goals for Rutgers marked its highest scoring output since tallying five against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sept. 23, 2007. DeMaio now has 19 assists in her career, moving her past Lloyd into sixth-place on the Rutgers all-time assists list.
"It was a big game for us and I can see the team gaining confidence," said Crooks. "It is still early in the season, so we will celebrate this win tonight and tomorrow we will be back to training as we get ready for our match Friday with the fourth-ranked team in the country."
Rutgers returns to non-conference action on Friday, Sept. 26, when No. 4 Portland comes to Yurcak Field at 5:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES:
Rutgers held a pre-game ceremony to honor former standout Carli Lloyd, where it retired her No. 10 jersey. Lloyd, a starter for the US Women's National Team, scored the game-winning goal in the 2008 Summer Olympic gold-medal match against Brazil.
Rutgers' five goals marks its highest scoring output since tallying the same amount against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sept. 23, 2007.
Six players recorded points for the Scarlet Knights, a season-high. The previous high was five, against Seton Hall on Friday night.
Rutgers is undefeated in its first two BIG EAST conference games for the first time since 2006, when it went undefeated in its first six conference matches.
The victory marked the third shutout this season for Rutgers.
Junior Gina DeMaio (Parsippany, N.J.) tied her career-high with three assists against the Wildcats. DeMaio previously achieved the feat against Bucknell on Aug. 31.
DeMaio now has 19 assists in her career, moving her past Lloyd for sixth-place on RU's all-time career-assists list. She needs two assists to tie Christa Aluotto for fith-place.
DeMaio has a career-high nine assists in 2008. Her previous high was eight, set in 2006. She now has the seventh-best single-season assists total in RU history. She needs four assists to tie Jennifer Gibbons for the highest assist total in Rutgers history.
Senior Alicia Hall (Port Republic, N.J.) scored two goals against Villanova, tying her career-high, previously set on Sept. 10, 2006.
Hall has four goals on the season, her highest season total since recording eight in 2006. She now has 16 goals in her career, moving her into 10th place on Rutgers' all-time career-goals list.
Senior Kristen Edmonds (Metuchen, N.J.) finished with a goal and an assist, giving her three goals and four assists on the season, her highest totals since recording six goals and six assists in 2005.
Junior Caycie Gusman (Honolulu, Hawaii) scored her career-high fifth goal of the season. She leads the team in that category.
Sophomore Ashley Medcalf (Waipahu, Hawaii) recorded the first goal of her Rutgers career in the 56th minute. She is the 11th Scarlet Knight to record at least one point in 2008.
Sophomore Ashley Jones (Feasterville, Pa.) recorded her first assist of 2008. She also has three goals on the year.
