MSOC Closes Out Regular Season With No. 17 Maryland
Nov 04 | Men's Soccer
Game Notes | | BTN Plus
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers men's soccer team closes out the regular season hosting fellow Big Ten newcomer Maryland on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Prior to kick off the Scarlet Knights will honor its lone senior, midfielder Nate Bruccoleri.
The Scarlet Knights, who will be the No. 8 seed at the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, will be looking to play spoiler as the Terps are in the hunt for the B1G regular season title.
WHAT'S THE SCENARIO
No matter the outcome of Wednesday's game, RU will be the No. 8 seed in the play-in game of the Big Ten Championships and will play No. 9 Wisconsin. However, the Rutgers/Maryland game has implications on who will emerge as the Big Ten regular season champion and where the play-in game will be held.
There are four teams vying for the top position in the conference - Penn State, Maryland, Northwestern and Ohio State.
Penn State has finished the regular season at 5-3-0 in league play. Northwestern (3-1-3) hosts Wisconsin while Ohio State (4-3-0) is at Michigan.
- Penn State will be crowned the B1G regular season champion if: Ohio State beats Michigan with Maryland falling to Rutgers and Northwestern losing to Wisconsin.
- Maryland will be the B1G regular season champion with a win over Rutgers, Ohio State defeating Michigan and Northwestern falling to Wisconsin.
- Northwestern will take home the conference regular season title with a Maryland win over Rutgers and a Ohio State loss to Michigan.
- Ohio State becomes the regular season champions with a Rutgers victory over Maryland and a Northwestern win against Wisconsin.
SENIOR NIGHT
The Scarlet Knights will honor senior Nate Bruccoleri prior to kickoff on Wednesday night.
Head coach Dan Donigan's first signee after taking over the Rutgers program, Bruccoleri has appeared in 70 games in his four year career, starting all but five contests. He has totaled 10 points from three goals and four assists, including an assist this season in RU's 4-1 victory over Penn.
As a freshman, Bruccoleri helped the Scarlet Knights to the Sweet 16 of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. As a rookie he played in all 21 contests and made 18 starts. He scored his first collegiate goal in his RU debut against La Salle and notched the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Syracuse. He also had his first career assist in a 3-1 win against Pittsburgh.
As a sophomore in 2012, Bruccoleri started all 14 games with an assist in a 2-1 win over Central Connecticut State and captured six shots on goal.
Helping RU to the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament as a junior in 2013, the Bordentown, New Jersey native started all 20 contests and opened the year with a nod to the Duke Soccer Classic All-Tournament Team and was named the team's Most Valuable Player.
ABOUT MARYLAND
Maryland, last season's national runner-up and the preseason pick to take home the Big Ten title, comes to Yurcak Field sporting a 10-5-2 overall record and 4-2-1 mark in conference play. The Terps has won seven straight after going 3-5-2 to open the season.
The Terps are led by Mael Corboz with 17 points (7G, 3A) followed by Mikias Eticha with nine points (3G, 3A). Corboz is fourth in the league in scoring.
In goal, Zack Steffen holds a 0.86 goals against average and .643 save percenatge along with seven shutouts.
ALL-TIME VS. MARYLAND
Wednesday will be the sixth all-time meeting between the Scarlet Knights and Terps and first in Big Ten play.
The two teams last met in 2012 with Rutgers taking an early 1-0 lead two minutes into the contest, but eventually fell 2-1 to the top-ranked team in the nation.
The two squads have also met in the NCAA Tournament with Maryland advancing out of first round action with a 1-0 win in 1997 at Yurcak Field.
LAST TIME VS. MARYLAND
Current redshirt junior Thomas O'Rourke got the Scarlet Knights off to a fast start, scoring just 1:13 into the match in RU's last appearance against the Terps back on Oct. 9, 2012. Posting his first goal of the season, O'Rourke corralled his own rebound and buried it in the back of the net from three yards out.
Maryland's Christiano Francois evened the score at one apiece in the sixth minute. John Stertzer played a through ball to Francois, who was able to score from eight yards out.
The Terps took a 2-1 lead in the 32nd minute. Stertzer volleyed a pass towards Patrick Mullins who buried a shot from 15 yards out.
The Scarlet Knights waged an offensive assault midway through the second half. Former Scarlet Knight Mike Soboff started the attack with a shot that missed high in the 69th minute. After a RU corner kick, then junior forward Kene Eze was able to get off two headers, one that hit the crossbar before UM goalkeeper Keith Cardona made a save.
RU posted a strong second half, getting off seven shots, including five on frame.
WRIGHT AWAY
Freshman forward Jason Wright continues to lead the Scarlet Knights with 18 points (8G, 2A) on the year.
Wright needs one more goal to match RU's highest goal total by a Scarlet Knight in the last 12 seasons. Former Scarlet Knight and recent Coursen Award winner Kene Eze in 2012 and 2013, Dilly Duka in 2008 and Adam Sternberger in 2005 each had eight goals in their respective seasons.
A ninth goal by Wright would be the most goals by an RU student-athlete since Josh Gros' 16 in 2003.
His two nets against the Penn on Oct. 14 marked his third two-goal game output. Wright also had both goals in RU's 2-1 win over Lafayette and both Scarlet Knight goals in the setback to Princeton last week.
Wright is tied for second in the Big Ten in points (18) and goals per game (0.50).
BACK IN NET
With his nine saves against Bradley last Friday, goalkeeper David Greczek set a new season-high, surpassing his previous high of seven stops against five different opponents (Syracuse, Hofstra, Wisconsin, Indiana & Penn State). It was his 16th career game with five or more stops and eighth career game with seven or more saves.
With his nine saves, Greczek cracked RU's top ten all-time save leaders list. He is currently eighth on the list with 177 career stops. The sophomore goalie needs nine more saves to surpass Matt VanOekel ('05 - '07) on the all-time list.
He currently ranks second in the Big Ten in saves (69) and leads the conference in saves per game (4.93).
Greczek finished his first season "On The Banks" with 108 saves in the 2013 campaign. It is the first time since 1995 an RU keeper has logged 100 or more saves in a single season and the most since Steve Widdowson's 106 saves in 1994. He also puts his name tied for third in the single season record book.
RUTGERS CAREER SAVES
1. 363 - Joe DeMorat - `84-'87
2. 303 - Steve Widdowson - `94-'96
3. 275 - Jon Conway - `96-'99
4. 214 - Dave Barrueta - `88-'90
5. 209 - Dave Yeager - `82-'84
6. 199 - Ricky Zinter - `99-'02
7. 185 - Matt VanOekel - `05-`07
8. 177 - David Greczek - `13-present
9. 171 - Bill Andracki - `90-'91
10. 169 - Kori Hunger - '92-'93
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