Starting XI: Men’s Soccer vs. No. 20 Penn State

Tuesday, February 23

Piscataway, N.J.

12 PM ET

Rutgers University

No. 20 Penn State

Starting XI: Men’s Soccer vs. No. 20 Penn State

Feb 22 | Men's Soccer

Live Stats

Eleven things to know before the Scarlet Knights' home opener against the nationally ranked Nittany Lions

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Feb. 22, 2021) – Rutgers men's soccer (1-0-0) hosts No. 20 Penn State (1-0-0) in the 2021 Spring home opener on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 12 p.m. inside Iron Peak Sports & Events in Hillsborough, N.J. Due to the change in facility, there will be no family or fans permitted to attend.

1. HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Stats

2. LAST TIME OUT: The Scarlet Knights opened the 2021 Spring season with the program's first-ever victory over Michigan State by a 2-0 score on Friday afternoon indoors at Schoolcraft College. Senior transfer Ritchie Barry and freshman Colin Beasley, both making their Scarlet Knight debuts, took care of the goal scoring in the season opening win. Sophomore Jackson Temple provided the assists on both tallies, while sophomore goalkeeper Oren Asher made five saves in the shutout victory – his fourth clean sheet in a young career.

3. SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS: Penn State, picked third in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll, is ranked No. 20 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer and started the season 1-0 with a ranked 3-2 win over No. 21 Maryland on Friday. Liam Butts, Brandon Hackenberg and Pierre Reedy were picked as Big Ten Players to Watch. Butts, a forward, was a first-team All-Big Ten honoree, a United Soccer Coaches All-North Region second-team honoree, and a member of the Big Ten All-Freshman Team a season ago after leading the Nittany Lions with nine goals, including five game-winners, the most in the conference.

4. THE SERIES: Penn State leads the all-time series 14-8 since 1982, with the sides never drawing. Since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014, the Nittany Lions have won all seven contests.

5. LAST TIME VS. PENN STATE: The 2019 regular season finale was an overtime thriller tilting late in then-No. 16 Penn State's favor. 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.

6. PLAYERS TO WATCH: The Big Ten Conference announced Pablo Ávila, Hugo Le Guennec and Jackson Temple as Rutgers Players to Watch for the 2021 Spring Season. Ávila, a junior from Terrassa, Spain, is returning as the team's leading point scorer with six goals and two assists, earning a nod to the All-Big Ten Second Team. Le Guennec and Temple were named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in 2019, and return with big expectations for their sophomore years "On the Banks." Le Guennec, a back out of Massy, France, contributed to Rutgers' four shutouts and an exceptional 0.84 goals-against average during the 6-0-2 start. Temple, a unanimous selection to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team, was the team's second-leading point scorer with five goals.

7. THE ARMBANDS: Head coach Jim McElderry has named Pablo Ávila and Vincent Borden captains of the Spring 2021 squad.

8. BETWEEN THE PIPES: Sophomore Oren Asher, fresh off a five-save shutout in the 2021 Spring season opener, made every start in net last season and posted three solo shutouts and shared another. As a freshman, he posted a 0.84 goals-against average during the 6-0-2 start to the 2019 season. Asher tied for the Big Ten lead with those three shutouts.

9. EARNED EXPERIENCE: RU returns 14 letterwinners from last season, including eight of 11 starters. Junior Thomas DeVizio has 30 appearances on the backline, where he's joined by Le Guennec, Borden. Senior midfielder Kyle Galloway has played in 39 career games, joined by senior Vincenzo Pugliese (31 career appearances) and junior Nick Cruz (27 games played). A young attacking front includes sophomores Anthony O'Donnell and Randy Arronis, who both picked up their first collegiate points last season as freshmen.

10. ON THE RISE: At 6-1-2 last season outside the Big Ten, Rutgers had one of the best winning percentages (.778) in school history (5th) in non-conference play. During the final week of the regular season, Rutgers ranked 69^th in the NCAA RPI rankings, a stark improvement over the previous three seasons, which had an average RPI ranking of 150 at that point in the season. The Scarlet Knights garnered nine points from two wins and three draws against opponents in the RPI Top 100 - including a win and a draw against teams in the Top 50. This is another vast improvement over the previous three years, which had one point combined against the Top 100 from 2016-18.

11. NEW BLOOD: The Scarlet Knights have the No. 26 nationally ranked recruiting class heading into the season, according to Top Drawer Soccer. Coach McElderry and staff welcomed 12 newcomers to the roster - 11 freshmen and senior transfer Ritchie Barry from St. Joseph's. Meet the newest Scarlet Knights.

How about a couple of goals to start your week?#RUMS /// #GoRU! pic.twitter.com/LEcW1hEh4D
— Rutgers Men's Soccer (@RUMensSoccer) February 22, 2021

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