BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 7, 2019) – Ninth-seeded Rutgers men's soccer (7-7-3) enters the 2019 Big Ten Tournament against eight-seed Ohio State (6-10-1) in the first round on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. on the home field of No. 1 seed Indiana (12-2-3) at Bill Armstrong Stadium.

Indiana awaits the winner of this first round matchup in the quarterfinal round on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 1 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
 

THE SCOUT

• Ohio State dropped its regular season finale to Wisconsin last weekend at home, 1-0, bringing a 6-10-1 overall record and 1-6-1 mark into the postseason. The Buckeyes have an overall record of 19-24-1 in Big Ten Tournament play and have won the event three times (2000, 2007 and 2009).
• Senior Jack Holland rates No. 2 in the league in assists with seven and No. 2 in assists per game (0.41). Sophomore Devyn Etling along with Holland are fifth in goals (5).
• The Buckeyes prevailed, 1-0, at Yurcak Field in the 2019 regular season meeting on Oct. 6. Samuel Buzzas scored the contest's lone goal in the 72nd minute.
• Indiana enters the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed. The Hoosiers finished the regular season 12-2-3 along with a 7-1 league record to claim the 2019 Big Ten regular season title.
• The Hoosiers are ranked No. 9 in the United Soccer Coaches national poll this week. 
• IU goalkeeper Roman Celetano leads the Big Ten and is ranked 20th nationally with a 0.77 goals-against average, while the Hoosier offense scores 2.0 goals per game - second in the Big Ten and 30th in the nation.

RUTGERS IN THE B1G TOURNEY

• The Scarlet Knights are 2-4-1 in the Big Ten Tournament since joining the conference in 2014, and 1-2 in the opening round.
• Rutgers' last first round victory came in 2014, beating ninth-seeded Wisconsin, 5-2.
• Last season, the seventh-seeded Scarlet Knights fell in the quarterfinals to No. 2 Wisconsin, 6-3.
• Rutgers' highest tournament seed was No. 4 in 2015, when RU topped No. 5 Northwestern in the quarterfinals before a semifinal exit at the hands of No. 1 Ohio State.

RUTGERS QUICK KICKS

• With postseason still to play, Rutgers sits in the NCAA RPI rankings in 73rd place, a stark improvement over the last three seasons, which had an average RPI ranking of 150 at this point in the season. The Scarlet Knights have garnered nine points from two wins and three draws against opponents currently in the RPI Top 100 - including a win and a draw against teams in the Top 50. This is another vast improvement over the last three years, which had one point combined against the Top 100 from 2016-18.

• The Scarlet Knights had a chance at securing its first undefeated non-conference slate since 1983 before a hard-luck 1-0 loss at Lehigh on Oct. 29. At 6-1-2 this fall outside the Big Ten, Rutgers has one of the best winning percentage (.778) in school history (5th) in non-conference play.

• The Scarlet Knights went toe-to-toe with No. 16 Penn State in an overtime loss to wrap the regular season on Sunday. Freshman Randy Arronis broke the defensive stalemate with his first collegiate goal in the 83rd minute before the Nittany Lions tied in the 84th and won it in extra time.

• Rutgers dropped a Big Ten match at No. 10 Indiana (10-2-3, 5-1-0) by a score of 3-0 on Oct. 25 in front of 2,105 fans at Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium, where the Hoosiers extended their home undefeated streak to 35 with a record of 31-0-4.

• Rutgers rookies Jørgen Wisth Lie and Jackson Temple are ranked No. 40 and No. 97, respectively, in the midseason Top Drawer Soccer Top 100 Freshmen list. They are two of four freshmen that have started all 16 games for the Scarlet Knights this season, joining back Hugo Le Guennec and goalkeeper Oren Asher.

• Sophomore Pablo Ávila is ranked fourth in the Big Ten with six goals with Michigan's Nebojsa Popovic topping the list with 10 tallies. 

• Ávila is also tied for fourth in total points (14) behind Michigan's Popovic (23), Penn State's Aaron Molloy (21) and Ohio State's Jack Holland (17).

• Ávila and freshman Jackson Temple along with David Kovacic (Maryland), Bardia Kimiavi (Northwestern), Devyn Etling (Ohio State) and Joshua Penn (Indiana) each have two game-winning goals in 2019 and are tied for third in the Big Ten in the category. PSU's Butts tops the list with five game-winners.

• In goal, freshman Oren Asher is third in saves (55), while leading the conference with Ohio State's Parker Siegfried and Indiana's Roman Celentano with three clean sheets apiece on the season.
 

THE SERIES

• Ohio State holds an all-time advantage of 5-2-0. This will be the first neutral-site meeting in the series. Rutgers is 0-1 vs. Ohio State in Big Ten Tournament play, with a 4-0 setback in Columbus in the 2015 event. The Buckeyes were the No. 1 seed while Rutgers was No. 4 that year.
• Indiana holds an 9-2-2 advantage over Rutgers all-time since 1993. The Hoosiers are unbeaten in each of the last four contests against the Scarlet Knights, including this season's 3-0 victory in Bloomington. The two sides have never met in the Big Ten Tournament.

PLAYOFF PICTURE

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