PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Nov. 3, 2019) – Rutgers men's soccer (7-7-3, 1-6-1) concluded the 2019 regular season by dropping a 2-1 final score in overtime against No. 16 Penn State (11-2-3, 6-1-1) on Sunday afternoon at Yurcak Field.
 
Freshman midfielder Randy Arronis put the Scarlet Knights ahead 1-0 in the 84^th minute on his first collegiate goal, but the Nittany Lions had a quick answer one minute later on Liam Butts' game-tying strike to force overtime. Two minutes into extra time, Penn State ended its regular season with an overtime win and clinched second place in the Big Ten.

 


The Scarlet Knights will be the No. 9 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will meet No. 8 Ohio State in the opening round on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the home of No. 1 seed Indiana, who will await the winner in the quarterfinals on Sunday. Full times and details for the Big Ten Tournament are to be determined.
 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• On a day when Rutgers' two members of the Class of 2020 – Jake Longo and Tim McQuaid – were honored in a pregame Senior Day ceremony, it was a junior that gave Rutgers an early spark. In just the third minute, Vincenzo Pugliese had a close-range shot denied by a diving Kris Shakes to prevent an early tally, and sophomore Pablo Ávila missed his follow-up attempt just wide left.
• Freshman goalkeeper Oren Asher made a point-blank stop on a PSU shot within the six-yard box in the 11^th minute to continue the early scoreless trend.
• Rutgers' best chance to take the lead came in the 64^th minute, when freshman Jackson Temple seemingly had a shot on an empty net thanks to a nifty back-passing cross by Valentino Ambrosio. But Shakes was up to the task again with an miraculous reaction save to keep Rutgers off the board.
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• The Scarlet Knights broke through in the 83^rd, when the Penn State defense headed away a cross. Ambrosio had a look at a shot, but wisely chose to fake a shot and let it bounce to a winding up Arronis, who blasted a rocket into the upper right 90s of the net for the 1-0 lead.
• The celebration was hardly over before the Nittany Lions pushed the attack, took a rebounded shot in the box, and Liam Butts scored his eighth goal of the year on the rebound.
• Penn State converted its first scoring chance in overtime off a corner kick, as Christian Sload flicked on Seth Kuhn's service over the defense and into the top shelf of the Rutgers net for the golden goal.

TURNING POINT

Penn State's equalizer came just 59 seconds after Rutgers went ahead 1-0. The final six minutes of overtime favored Penn State in possession and they took the only shot during that span, which was saved by Asher. However, the momentum had swung because of the quick game-tying score, and the Nittany Lions capitalized on that swing early in extra time.
 

STAT SHEET

• Penn State led 17-13 in shots, including 6-5 in shots on target. Pugliese took three shots for Rutgers.
• Asher finished with four saves, matching his Penn State counterpart.
• Each side was cautioned three times apiece, and corner kick attempts were also tied at 5-5.
• Penn State held a slight edge in possession, 52-48, as Rutgers did 64 percent of its ball handling behind midfield.

KNIGHT NOTES

• Seniors Longo and McQuaid each played in all 93 minutes of their final home match.
• Arronis, playing in his 14^th game as a freshman, scored his first collegiate goal.
• Asher finishes the regular season starting in all 17 matches, totaling 1,457 minutes.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Jim McElderry on the Penn State game: "I thought we played great today. That's a really good team we played, one of the top 10 or 15 teams based on RPI. I thought, for long stretches, looked like the better side. We went up one-nil with six minutes left, and maybe just lacked a little bit of experience in closing it out, then conceding in extra time on a set piece. Really disappointed for the guys, but I thought they played well."
 
McElderry on the Big Ten Tournament: "We'll look to take our chances. Today, the Penn State keeper was really good, but we created those chances. If we learn to put those away and get teams to chase us a bit, I think we can make a run. A performance like this gives us a great chance to win any game."
 

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