MSOC Takes Down No. 25 Michigan in Overtime
Oct 10 | Men's Soccer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Leading scorer Jason Wright (Kingston, Jamaica) put away the golden goal two and a half minutes into overtime to lead the Rutgers men's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over league leader Michigan on Saturday at UM Soccer Stadium.
The Wolverines, receiving votes in the NSCAA Poll and ranked at No. 25 in the College Soccer News Poll, suffered their first loss since Sept. 16 and their first loss in conference. With the loss, Michigan fell to 5-3-3 and 2-1-2 in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights, who snapped Michigan's five-game unbeaten streak, meanwhile, improved to 6-4-1 overall and 2-3-0 in the Big Ten.
Wright tallied his team-leading ninth goal of the year in the 93rd minute after the two squads had played to a 0-0 stalemate at the end of regulation. Countering off a Michigan corner kick, Miles Hackett (Montclair, N.J.) found his teammate with a cross six-yards out for a finish into the lower left corner.
"The game was tough and it was a hard fought battle between two teams that really wanted to get the result. Miles did a great job with the set up. He got loose from a couple of Michigan defenders and made a great effort to find Jason," said head coach Dan Donigan. "Jason had a blast off his right foot into the corner."
Michigan held a slight advantage in shots, 14-13, and outcornered the Scarlet Knights, 11-4.
Junior netminder David Greczek (Fairfield, N.J.) came up with three saves to preserve the victory. Evan Louro made three stops as well in the loss.
"We knew that Michigan was dangerous and our back four today were dynamite. In fact, my hats off to our entire team for the willingness to put in the work for over 90 minutes and do what was needed to take the win," added Donigan. "Our guys fought hard to get three points on the road against a very talented Michigan team."
The Rutgers men's soccer team returns to nonconference action on Tuesday night. The Scarlet Knights meet up with the Penn Quakers on Oct. 13 for a 5 p.m. kickoff in Philadelphia. The game will be streamed on ESPN3.
KNIGHT NOTES:
- Rutgers defeated its second nationally ranked opponent of the season. The Wolverines were ranked at No. 25 in the College Soccer News Poll. Previously, the Scarlet Knights downed Indiana, a squad ranked at No. 22 in the NSCAA Poll at the time, 4-1, back on Sept. 20.
- The Scarlet Knights improved to 1-1-1 in overtime this season, including a 1-0-1 mark in Big Ten play.
- Jason Wright tallied his team-leading ninth goal and third game-winner of the year. It was Wrights' first career golden goal.
- Wright now has 20 points (9G, 2A) on the season and 45 points (19G, 7A) in his two seasons at Rutgers.
- Miles Hackett collected his second assist of the 2015 campaign. His last assist came on the first goal of the season three minutes into the contest with Siena back on Aug. 28.
- Hackett now has 12 points (5G, 2A) on the year and has collected 14 points (5G, 4A) in his career.
- Goalkeeper David Greczek and the Rutgers defense captured their third shutout of the year. For Greczek, it was his 10th shutout of his career.
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-RU-
