Homestand Continues With Penn
Oct 13 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (October 13, 2014) - The Rutgers men's soccer team's homestand continues on Tuesday night as RU gets back to nonconference action in a tilt with Penn at 7 p.m. at Yurcak Field on BTN Plus. Rutgers will be looking to shake off a 3-0 loss to Michigan from Saturday night.
JUNIOR KNIGHTS GIVEAWAY
The first 150 Junior Knights at Tuesday night's game will receive a free Rutgers soccer youth scarf.
ABOUT PENN
The Quakers, the 2013 Ivy League champions, come to Yurcak Field with a 5-5-0 overall record and 1-1-0 mark in Ivy League play. They fell 2-1 to Columbia at home on Saturday night, snapping a two-game win streak.
Penn is led by Duke Lacroix with 16 points (6G, 4A) and is followed by Alec Neumann with 14 points (5G, 4A). In net, Max Polkinhorne has started all 10 games to date and is holding a 1.84 goals against average and .739 save percentage along with three shutouts.
COMMON BONDS
Rutgers and Penn both shared a date with Penn State on their schedules.
Penn fell 6-2 on Sept. 24 in the meeting in State College. The Quakers did something no visiting team had managed to do at Jeffrey Field since October of 2013 - score a goal. Duke Lacroix's goal in the 15th minute ended a streak of 674:52 of action in State College without Penn State conceding a goal.
Lacroix's goal in the 15th minute tied the game at 1-1. However, only a minute later, the Nittany Lions socred the first of three unanswered goals to take over the lead for good.
For the Scarlet Knights, the RU defense held tight for 79 minutes of play on Oct. 4 before the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions broke through.
ALL-TIME VS. PENN
Tuesday will mark the 15th meeting between the Scarlet Knights and Quakers. Penn leads the series 9-5, but the Scarlet Knights have won three of the last four meetings and five of the last seven contests.
The two squads last faced each other on the pitch back in 2007 with RU earning a 2-0 victory.
ALL-TIME VS. THE IVY LEAGUE
The Scarlet Knights are 41-51-12 all-time against the Ivy League.
Brown: 2-3
Columbia: 10-11-3
Cornell: 1-0
Dartmouth: 1-0
Harvard: 1-0
Penn: 5-9
Princeton: 21-27-9
Yale: 0-1
LEADING THE WAY
Freshman forward Jason Wright continues to lead the Scarlet Knights in scoring. Wright, who tallied both goals in RU's loss to Princeton last Tuesday night, has five goals to his name in 2014 in addition to two assists. His 10 points places his name in a tie for third among all Big Ten scorers.
Wright's two goals against the Tigers gave him his second multiple scoring game of the year. The Kingston, Jamaica native also had two tallies in RU's 3-1 win against Lafayette.
NEW IN NET
Sophomore Mitchell Walier made his third appearance of the season in net for the Scarlet Knights on Saturday against Michigan. The sophomore Scarlet Knight played the entire second half and logged a career-high five stops.
Walier earned his first career start in goal in RU's 0-0 draw with No. 16 Michigan State on Sept. 28 and played the final 20 minutes of last Tuesday's matchup with Princeton. In both contests, he captured four saves.
Walier also played in goal last season against Hofstra, making one stop in playing the entire second half.
In his four career appearances, the sophomore Scarlet Knight has 13 saves.
PLAYING THE BEST
Rutgers had a stretch of three-straight contests against nationally-ranked opponents with the Scarlet Knights going 0-2-1 during the span. Both losses - #14 Indiana & #4 Penn State - were both one goal margins.
Against the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions on Oct. 4, the Scarlet Knight defense held tight for 79 minutes of play before PSU broke through to remain undefeated on the year.
RU played at a 0-0 draw against #16 Michigan State on Sept. 28, a team that had allowed only one goal and 21 shots on net. After the first 45 minutes saw the Scarlet Knights outshot, 11-3, RU amped up its offensive chances with five attempts to MSU's eight in the second half and both overtimes.
Rutgers entered halftime against No. 14 Indiana on Sept. 20 tied at 1-1 thanks in part to six first half saves by goalkeeper David Greczek, including one on a Hoosier penalty kick. After Indiana went ahead 2-1 in the 65th minute, RU had a chance to tie five minutes later. However, sophomore midfielder Erik Sa's free keep landed in the hands of Hoosier keeper Colin Webb.
UP NEXT
The Rutgers men's soccer team returns to Big Ten play hosting Northwestern on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m.
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-RU-
