Box Score Oct. 25, 2014 Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Rutgers men's soccer team fell 4-1 to Ohio State at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on Saturday night in its final road game of the regular season.
While the Scarlet Knights were able to tie the game at 1-1 midway through the first half on leading scorer Jason Wright's (Kingston, Jamaica) eighth goal of the year, the Buckeyes added in the game-winner with 10 minutes left until the intermission and added in two insurance goals in the second stanza.
The loss drops Rutgers to 5-9-1 overall and 1-5-1 in the Big Ten. Ohio State, meanwhile, improved to 7-5-3 overall and 4-2-0 in league action.
Ohio State took the lead in the first minute of the contest. Moments after the opening kick, the Buckeyes played a through ball to the left corner. Max Moller crossed the ball to Danny Jensen, who headed the ball inside to the left post from six yards out.
Rutgers tied the game at 1-1 in the 22nd minute with Wright putting away his team-leading eighth goal of the year. Wright got his foot on a free kick at the far post from sophomore Erik Sa (Watchung, N.J.), who bent the ball into the box from 25 yards out near the right sideline.
The Buckeyes managed to go into the half up, 2-1, with Liam Doyle finding the back of the Scarlet Knight net on a free kick from 20 yards out in the 35th minute.
Ohio State added two more insurance goals in the second half for the game's final margin.
Similar to the opening of the game, the Buckeyes' Jensen added a score in the early moments of half number two to give Ohio State a 3-1 cushion. Ohio State took control after an RU throw-in with Yianni Sarris working his way to the top of the 18 and feeding Jensen for a shot eight yards out.
The Buckeyes went up 4-1 in the 65th minute with Ryan Ivancic and Christian Soldat volleying the ball in from the right side to Kyler Culbertson at the goal line of the left post.
Ohio State ended the night outshooting the Scarlet Knights, 11-6, and holding a 5-3 edge in corners.
Sophomore goalkeeper David Greczek (Fairfield, N.J.) ended the night with three saves. His counterpart, Alex Ivanov, registered one save for the Buckeyes, making a diving play in the 69th minute on a blast from junior Rayon Gibbs (Jackson, Miss.) at the top of the box.
"We will continue to fight and work hard heading into these final games," said head coach Dan Donigan. "After Ohio State's first score, we fought back to tie the game and were playing well, but there were mistakes made resulting in them getting off the shots to go ahead. We won't hang our heads because we'll continue to battle in these last two games and then into the conference tournament."
The Rutgers men's soccer team returns to Yurcak Field for its final two games of the regular season. RU wraps up nonconference play with Bradley on Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. and concludes the regular season against Maryland, last season's national runner-up ,on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.
KNIGHT NOTES
- With RU's lone goal of the night, freshman Jason Wright captured his eighth goal of the season, tying for the highest goal total by a Scarlet Knight in the last 12 seasons. Former Scarlet Knight Kene Eze also had eight tallies in 2012 and 2013, as did Dilly Duka in 2008 and Adam Sternberg in 2005.
- With three saves against the Buckeyes, sophomore David Greczek currently has 168 career saves in 33 games played. He needs two more stops to rank on RU's top ten career saves leaders list.
- Sophomore Erik Sa's assist to Wright off the free kick gave the midfielder his second assist of the year. He now has 10 points (3G, 4A) in his career.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersMensSoccer) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/RUMensSoccer) for all of the latest news and updates. Fans also receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on both social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com.
-RU-
