PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers men's soccer team heads out onto the road on last time this regular season to meet Northwestern in a crucial Big Ten matchup Sunday on BTN at noon.

FINAL B1G ROAD CONTEST
The Rutgers men's soccer team closes out the road portion of its 2017 regular season schedule at Northwestern on Sunday afternoon at noon on BTN. Chris Doran and Glenn Crooks are on the call.

The Wildcats are one of four games left on RU's regular season slate and second-to-last Big Ten Team to tackle. Rutgers will wrap up conference action on Sunday, Oct. 22 when they host Penn State.

The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 2-1 victory over fellow in-state school, NJIT. A strong first half saw Rutgers race out to a 2-0 lead and outshoot the Highlanders, 9-0, in the frame. Senior forward Ryan Peterson converted a penalty kick in the 30th minute and four minutes later redshirt junior midfielder Miles Hackett put away the game-winner.

For Peterson, it was his third goal of the season and improved to 2-2 on PK's. He also converted a penalty kick against Michigan State ending the Spartans' streak of 441 scoreless minutes to open the season.

Hackett, meanwhile, registered his third game-winner and second of the 2017 season. He also netted the game-winner in RU's last victory, a 1-0 win over Princeton, another Jersey school.

While NJIT thwarted the potential Scarlet Knight shutout in the 56th minute, RU was able to keep Highlander Mamadou Guirassy, the nation's leading scorer away from goal.  Guirassy entered the game having tallied 26 points and 12 goals and was averaging 2.00 points and 4.85 shots per game.

Following Sunday's game, Rutgers returns home for three-straight games beginning with Lafayette on Wednesday, Oct. 18.

ABOUT NORTHWESTERN
Northwestern welcomes the Scarlet Knights with a 4-9-0 overall mark and is still looking for its first Big Ten win at 0-5-0. Rutgers will be the third opponent the Wildcats face this week.

After three-straight losses to No. 22 Michigan, No. 3 Maryland and culminating in forcing overtime with No. 7 Notre Dame with a 2-1 loss, Northwestern has won two-straight. The Wildcats picked up a 3-2 win over Western Illinois on Monday and a 2-0 shutout of DePaul on Wednesday.

Junior midfielder Camden Buescher leads Northwestern with eight points (2G, 4A),  followed by sophomore midfielder Sean Lynch with six points (2G, 2A) and sophomore forward Mac Mazzola with a pair of tallies.

In goal, senior Francisco Tomasino got the start and earned the clean sheet against DePaul. On the season, he is holding down a .692 save percentage and 1.01 goals against average having started in four of his five appearance.

Junior Robbie White has also seen time between the pipes with starts in the win over Western Illinois and making 10 saves against the Terps. He has a 2.01 goals against average and .744 in his five starts.

LAST TIME VS. NORTHWESTERN
Rutgers held a 1-0 first half lead, but the Northwestern Wildcats would come back to force overtime and take a 2-1 victory on Oct. 14, 2016 night at Yurcak Field.

The Scarlet Knights took the 1-0 edge in the game's 23rd minute, a lead RU would hold until the final two minutes of regulation. 

The 88th minute, however, saw Northwestern knot the score at 1-1. Brandon Mendina collected the loose ball for the unassisted tally into the center of the net as the Scarlet Knights cleared a cross into the box.

The Wildcats notched the golden goal with 44 seconds remaining in the first overtime. From the right side of the field, Camden Buescher sent in a cross to the near post. Controlling the cross was Mike Roberge, who directed the ball to his right at Mattias Tomasino for a shot across the net from six-yards out into the right post.

Both Rutgers and Northwestern ended the evening with 14 shots apiece.

Scarlet Knight keeper David Greczek stopped seven Wildcat shots, while his counterpart Francisco Tomasino logged three saves.

TOUGHEST SCHEDULE IN THE NATION
With games already in the book against five members of the top six, the Rutgers men's soccer team is currently playing the toughest schedule in the nation.

RU faced two of the country's best during opening weekend with 2016 national runner-up,  No. 2 Wake Forest, and 2016 national semifinalist, No. 4 North Carolina. 

Rutgers has also clashed with No. 1 Indiana, No. 3 Maryland and No. 6 Michigan State and most recently No. 24 Michigan, who returned to the top 25  after receiving votes last week.  The Scarlet Knights have also tackled Ohio State and Wisconsin, teams also receiving votes.

Still left on the schedule is the regular season finale with Columbia on Oct. 25, who currently ranks No. 22.

Toughest Schedules
Team  - (Opponents - Current Rank)
1. Rutgers - (No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 3 Maryland, No. 4 North Carolina, No.  6 Michigan State, No. 24 Michigan, No. 22 Columbia, RV Ohio State, RV Wisconsin
2. Santa Clara - (No. 1 Indiana, No. 3 Maryland, No. 17 SMU, No. 19 Washington, RV Seattle, RV California)
3. Tulsa - (No. 8 Stanford, No. 17  Southern Methodist, RV Creighton)
4. Michigan State  - (No. 1 Indiana,  No. 3 Maryland, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 13 Western Michigan, No. 20 Butler, No. 24 Michigan, RV Akron,  RV Ohio State, RV Dartmouth, RV Wisconsin)
5. Duke - (No. 1 Indiana,  No. 4 North Carolina, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 9 Georgetown, No. 10 Virginia, No. 11 Clemson, RV Virginia Tech)
     
B1G CHALLENGE
All six of the Big Ten teams Rutgers has faced are currently listed in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. Two are listed among the top five (Indiana, Maryland), three are among the top ten (Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State) and two are among the three teams around Division I  who are unbeaten (Indiana, Maryland).

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