Men's Soccer Edged In 1-0 Battle With No. 2 Indiana

Friday, October 19

Piscataway, N.J.

7:00 PM

Rutgers University

4-10-1, 2-5-0B1G

Indiana

13-2-0, 5-0-0B1G

Indiana

Rutgers

Photo by: Mel Evans

Men's Soccer Edged In 1-0 Battle With No. 2 Indiana

Oct 19 | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score

Scarlet Knight Defense Holds League Leaders Off The Scoreboard Until the 84th Minute

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Eighty-four minutes of scoreless play went by before the No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers were able to score the night's lone goal in the 1-0 Rutgers men's soccer loss to last season's national runner-ups on Friday night at Yurcak Field.

Prior to the contest, the Scarlet Knights honored seven of their seniors.

The Scarlet Knight defense endured 26 attempts by the Big Ten leader, but would not allow the Hoosiers an opening until six minutes were left in the contest.

Senior goalkeeper Rafael Pereira, who was one of seven seniors honored prior to kickoff in Rutgers' regular season finale, tied his career-high with nine saves.

Indiana getting looks at net but #RFutbol keeping the Hoosiers off the scoreboard thanks to a kick save by Pereira pic.twitter.com/brAtvtkHvb
— Rutgers Men's Soccer (@RUMensSoccer) October 19, 2018

The Big Ten's second leading scorer, Andrew Gutman, who sits right behind RU's Jordan Hall on the stat sheet, got the assist on the night's only tally. The Hoosier entered the left side of the box and dribbled towards the end line before passing back to Trevor Swartz, who fired from eight yards out into the top right corner.

"We tried to tactically give ourselves a chance," said head coach Dan Donigan. "We know how good they are, but we defended hard and got numbers back behind the ball. We looked to break out and counter, but we just couldn't get one. They are one of the best teams I've seen in the country.

"I'm proud of the effort, proud of the work and proud of the way our guys played overall. If we can do that consistently, night-in and night-out, we know we can play with anybody in the country. It only takes one chance to win a game if you can keep them off the scoreboard and we kept them off the scoreboard for a majority of the game. It tells our guys they can play and compete with anyone in the country if you can do that with Indiana."

Rutgers (4-10-1, 2-5-0 Big Ten) was able to fire off seven shots in the loss. Hall led the offense with three attempts, but Indiana (13-2-0, 5-0-0 Big Ten) was able to keep the Big Ten leading scorer firing from distance and over the Hoosier goal.

The Rutgers men's soccer team wraps up the regular season next week with a pair of road games. RU will travel to Columbia on Tuesday, Oct. 23 and head to Penn State on Sunday, Oct. 28.

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. For additional updates, download the Rutgers Gameday App.

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