WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The Rutgers men's soccer team battled back from down a pair of goals early in the second half to take a 2-2 double overtime draw with Hartford on Tuesday night at  Al-Marzook Field.
 

MATCH SUMMARY

• Both teams garnered three shot opportunities in the first half, but it was Hartford who broke thru in the 35^th minute for a 1-0 intermission edge. With Rutgers looking to clear the ball out of the backfield, the Hawk's Etienne Jovante took control along the right side to send across the top of the box to Tommer Drimmer.
• Hartford took a 2-0 lead two minutes into the second half with another score set up by Jovante. This time, off a goal kick, the Hawk from the top right corner of the 18 sent a pass into Connor Aksoz for a left footed strike from six yards out in goal.
• Three minutes later, however, in the 50^th minute the Scarlet Knights struck back. Jackson Temple with the cross from the right side was tapped by the Hartford defense right to leading scorer Pablo Ávila, who dribbled and fired from six yards out into the left post to get RU onto the scoreboard.
• Right after missing an open shot from 10 yards over the net in the 65^th minute, Temple would get the equalizer two minutes after. A Brandon Golden cross from the far side of the field was headed out by the Hawk defense and deflected by Anthony O'Donnell. Temple picked up the ball to drill the shot into the right post from 22 yards out.
• Two minutes into the second overtime, the Hawks had a shot come off the left post off their second corner of the night, but a foul was called before the rebound went into goal.
• The Scarlet Knight defense withstood six Hartford shots in the second overtime to keep the game tied.

KEY STATS

• Rutgers moves to 7-3-3 overall and remains unbeaten in nonconference action at 6-0-2 with one non-league game remaining on the regular season slate.
• Hartford goes to 7-2-4 overall and ups its unbeaten streak to 11, the longest since the Hawks moved to Division I in 1984.
• RU led in shots 10-6 at the end of regulation, but after a Hartford second overtime surge, ended the game outshot, 13-11.
• The Hawks also held a slight edge in corner kicks, 4-3.
• Jimmy Slayton made two saves for Hartford, while Rutgers' Oren Asher picked up one stop coming up late in the first overtime.

KNIGHT NOTES

• The game marked RU's second overtime matchup of the season. RU also played Penn on the road to a 1-1 stalemate on Sept. 17.
• Sophomore Pablo Ávila captured his team-leading sixth goal of the year and ups his point total to 14 (6G, 2A) on the year.
• Freshman Jackson Temple, on the game-tying goal, collected his fifth goal of the 2019 campaign.
• Freshman Anthony O'Donnell recorded his first career assist on the equalizer.

 

MATCH QUOTES

"We challenged the guys at halftime to not only play well, but to fight for a result, and they responded well. To come back from down 2-0 is excellent. We were close to a third, too, but in the end we have to be ok with the tie. Now we focus everything on Northwestern which we know will be another difficult match." – head coach Jim McElderry
 

UP NEXT

The Rutgers men's soccer team returns to Big Ten play at Northwestern on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 2 p.m. on BTN with Dean Linke and Patrick Doody on the call.

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