PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Thomas DeVizio and
Jackson Temple provided a pair of first-half goals, which was all goalkeeper
Oren Asher and the defense needed in a 2-0 shutout of Delaware to open the 2021 season victoriously on a steamy Thursday evening at Yurcak Field.
Playing in its first non-conference match in 667 days, the Scarlet Knights pick up right where they left off during the 2021 Spring Big Ten schedule, where all four wins came via the clean sheet. Asher, a junior, made four saves for his eighth career shutout.
The senior captain DeVizio opened the scoring in 10
th minute with his first collegiate goal. DeVizio created the opportunity by challenging the Blue Hens keeper on a back pass and creating a loose ball, which was promptly collected by freshman
Nico Rosamilia, who passed it back across the goalmouth to a wide open DeVizio for the tap-in and the 1-0 lead.
RU made it 2-0 in the 29
th minute when
Ola Maeland made a run into the 18-yard box and was brought down by a foul. Temple stepped up to the penalty spot and buried a low shot to the right-side netting for his eighth career goal to begin his junior season.
"There was a lot of emotion from both teams in the first game of the season," said head coach
Jim McElderry. "I was happy with our mentality throughout the game and scoring early. Our guys in the back were solid and really limited chances. We'll keep working to get more comfortable with each other, but this was a great result."
The opening night emotions resulted in six yellow cards – three apiece – and a Blue Hen being sent off with a red card in the 53
rd minute as Delaware played the remainder with 10 men.
The Scarlet Knights outshot Delaware 13-11 and created six corner chances to the Blue Hens' two.
Three Rutgers freshmen cracked the opening night starting lineup with
Matthew Acosta in the midfield,
Nico Rosamilia at forward and
Joey Zalinsky on defense.
Vincent Borden,
Chris Tiao and Zalinsky all went the distance with 90 minutes logged in the shutout victory.
Rutgers remains unbeaten against Delaware, moving to 3-0-1 all-time after winning their first matchup against the Blue Hens since 2010.
The Scarlet Knights stay home to host Temple on Monday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. at Yurcak Field streaming live on Big Ten+.
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