Five Scarlet Knights Earn Big Ten Men's Soccer All-Conference Awards
Nov 05 | Men's Soccer
Jackson Temple & Vincent Borden are Second Team All-Big Ten; Matthew Acosta & Joey Zalinsky selected to All-Big Ten Freshman Team; Ola Maeland earns Sportsmanship Award
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference has honored five Rutgers men's soccer student-athletes with 2021 All-Conference awards, announced by the league office on Friday.
Junior forward Jackson Temple and graduate student defender Vincent Borden have been named to the All-Big Ten Second Team, freshman midfielder Matthew Acosta is a unanimous choice for the All-Big Ten Freshman Team, and freshman defender Joey Zalinsky earns a spot on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. Ola Maeland has been named Rutgers' Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.
The 2021 awards mark the first time Rutgers has had multiple All-Conference winners (first or second team) since 2015. The Scarlet Knights also have multiple selections to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team for just the second time since joining the conference in 2014.
Temple earns his first All-Conference honor after totaling 14 points in the regular season, which ranks seventh in the Big Ten. His team-best six goals are tied for fifth in the league. Temple carries a hot streak into the 2021 postseason having scored four goals over the last four contests, including his first career brace with two tallies at UConn on Oct. 27. The Millville, Pennsylvania native followed that up with his first career two-assist game in the 4-0 regular season finale victory over Ohio State. Earlier this season, his goal in the 70th minute at then-No. 11 Indiana went down as the game-winner in Rutgers' first win over a ranked opponent since 2015.
Borden made the most of his extra year of eligibility, contributing to one of the top defenses in the Big Ten in 2021. The Ithaca, New York native was on the backline for all of Rutgers' seven shutouts, the most in an RU season since 2015 and just the third time this century a Scarlet Knight squad has posted seven or more shutouts in a season. Borden, as has become custom, chipped in a goal from his defensive position. He picked up his fourth career goal on Sept. 10, the game-winner in a 3-2 win over Lehigh. Borden led the defense posting four consecutive shutouts to start a season at Rutgers for the first time since the 1990 NCAA Championships runner-up team.
Acosta has been a mainstay in Jim McElderry's lineup with a call to the starting lineup in all 16 matches of the regular season, averaging 79 minutes per contest. The rookie picked up his first collegiate assist in the 1-0 victory over Penn on Sept. 20, and added his second helper on the goal against Michigan State on Oct. 10. The Annandale, New Jersey native was listed at No. 51 in the Top Drawer Soccer midseason national freshman rankings.
Zalinsky, the No. 21 ranked freshman in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer, has played in 14 of Rutgers' 16 matches of the 2021 season with 13 starts on the backline while contributing to seven RU shutouts. The workhorse averages 88 minutes per contest, boosted by his 110-minute performance in the scoreless draw with Temple, in which he ran close to 10 miles to chip into the clean sheet.
The Scarlet Knights finished the 2021 regular season with a 9-5-2 overall record, the most wins in a season since 2015, and tied for fifth in the Big Ten with a mark of 3-4-1. RU is the No. 6 seed in the 2021 Big Ten Tournament, and opens with 3-seed Indiana in Bloomington in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. on B1G+.
Follow Rutgers men's soccer on Twitter and Instagram (@RUMensSoccer) for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersMensSoccer). For all Rutgers Athletics news follow us on Twitter (@RUAthletics), Instagram (@RUAthletics), and Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics). For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.
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Junior forward Jackson Temple and graduate student defender Vincent Borden have been named to the All-Big Ten Second Team, freshman midfielder Matthew Acosta is a unanimous choice for the All-Big Ten Freshman Team, and freshman defender Joey Zalinsky earns a spot on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. Ola Maeland has been named Rutgers' Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.
The 2021 awards mark the first time Rutgers has had multiple All-Conference winners (first or second team) since 2015. The Scarlet Knights also have multiple selections to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team for just the second time since joining the conference in 2014.
Temple earns his first All-Conference honor after totaling 14 points in the regular season, which ranks seventh in the Big Ten. His team-best six goals are tied for fifth in the league. Temple carries a hot streak into the 2021 postseason having scored four goals over the last four contests, including his first career brace with two tallies at UConn on Oct. 27. The Millville, Pennsylvania native followed that up with his first career two-assist game in the 4-0 regular season finale victory over Ohio State. Earlier this season, his goal in the 70th minute at then-No. 11 Indiana went down as the game-winner in Rutgers' first win over a ranked opponent since 2015.
Borden made the most of his extra year of eligibility, contributing to one of the top defenses in the Big Ten in 2021. The Ithaca, New York native was on the backline for all of Rutgers' seven shutouts, the most in an RU season since 2015 and just the third time this century a Scarlet Knight squad has posted seven or more shutouts in a season. Borden, as has become custom, chipped in a goal from his defensive position. He picked up his fourth career goal on Sept. 10, the game-winner in a 3-2 win over Lehigh. Borden led the defense posting four consecutive shutouts to start a season at Rutgers for the first time since the 1990 NCAA Championships runner-up team.
Acosta has been a mainstay in Jim McElderry's lineup with a call to the starting lineup in all 16 matches of the regular season, averaging 79 minutes per contest. The rookie picked up his first collegiate assist in the 1-0 victory over Penn on Sept. 20, and added his second helper on the goal against Michigan State on Oct. 10. The Annandale, New Jersey native was listed at No. 51 in the Top Drawer Soccer midseason national freshman rankings.
Zalinsky, the No. 21 ranked freshman in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer, has played in 14 of Rutgers' 16 matches of the 2021 season with 13 starts on the backline while contributing to seven RU shutouts. The workhorse averages 88 minutes per contest, boosted by his 110-minute performance in the scoreless draw with Temple, in which he ran close to 10 miles to chip into the clean sheet.
The Scarlet Knights finished the 2021 regular season with a 9-5-2 overall record, the most wins in a season since 2015, and tied for fifth in the Big Ten with a mark of 3-4-1. RU is the No. 6 seed in the 2021 Big Ten Tournament, and opens with 3-seed Indiana in Bloomington in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 1 p.m. on B1G+.
Follow Rutgers men's soccer on Twitter and Instagram (@RUMensSoccer) for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersMensSoccer). For all Rutgers Athletics news follow us on Twitter (@RUAthletics), Instagram (@RUAthletics), and Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics). For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.
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