MSOC Upended by Michigan State, 3-1

Friday, September 25

Piscataway, N.J.

6:00 PM

Rutgers University

3-3-1, 1-2-0Big Ten

Michigan State

4-3-1, 1-0-1Big Ten

Michigan State

Rutgers

Sep 25 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Sept. 25, 2015

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Despite a goal by Miles Hackett (Montclair, N.J.) cutting into the Spartans' early lead, the Rutgers men's soccer team fell, 3-1, to visiting Michigan State on Friday night at Yurcak Field.

The loss drops Rutgers to 3-3-1 overall and 1-2-0 in the Big Ten. Michigan State improved to 4-3-1 overall and 1-0-1 in league play.

The Spartans capitalized early, taking a 2-0 lead in the game's first seven minutes. Ryan Sierakowski put away his first goal of the game in the fourth minute taking a rebound off a saved shot by Michael Marcantogini into the left corner. Three minutes later, Sierakowski sent a cross to the center of the box for Ken Krolicki to find the back of the RU net.

The Scarlet Knights did not wait very long to cut the deficit to one. In the 14th minute, JP Correa (Montville, N.J.) used a cross from the left post to find the foot of Hackett at the center of the net to send in his fourth goal of the season.

Rutgers ended the first half down, 2-1, and finished the opening stanza outshooting Michigan State, 9-4, and holding an 8-0 advantage in corners.

"The first minutes of the game, you can't give up those opportunities. That was unfortunate, but I thought we played well the rest of the first half," said head coach Dan Donigan. "I give ourselves credit, we pressed them a lot and had some great chances. Unfortunately we couldn't get that tying goal in that first half."

Michigan State added in an insurance goal in the 73rd minute. Sierakowski punched in his second goal of the game on a sliding shot from the left post off a pass from Krolicki from 12-yards out along the ride side of the box.

Rutgers ended the game with a 14-10 edge in shots taken and outcornered the Spartans, 12-1.

Scarlet Knight goalkeeper David Greczek (Fairfield, N.J.) made five saves in the loss, while the Spartan's Zach Bennett registered four saves.

"These guys still have lots of reason to feel good about themselves. They still for the most part this season have performed pretty well," said Donigan. "Even tonight there were good portions of the game I thought we played pretty well. We have to feed off of that. I'm confident this team will regroup and rebound for Tuesday against Loyola."

The Rutgers men's soccer team's homestand continues with a nonconference contest with Loyola (Md.) on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m.

KNIGHT NOTES:
- Sophomore Miles Hackett scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season. He has nine points (4G, 1A) in the season and 11 points (4G, 3A) in his career.
- Redshirt senior JP Correa had his first assist of the season. He has three points (1G, 1A) on the year and 31 points (11G, 9A) for his career.
- Rutgers outshot Michigan State, 14-10, with JP Correa and Jason Wright leading the Scarlet Knights with three shots each. Two of Correa's attempts were on frame.
- With his five saves, David Greczek moved into sole possession of fifth place on RU's all-time saves leaders list. He now has 214 career saves in his three year career.

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-RU-