Starting XI: Men’s Soccer vs. Temple

Monday, August 30

Piscataway, NJ

7:00 PM

Rutgers University

Temple

Aug 29 | Men's Soccer

Watch on Big Ten+Live Stats Listen on WRSU 88.7 FM

The 11 things to know before the Scarlet Knights face the Owls on Monday night at Yurcak Field

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's soccer (1-0) hosts Temple (0-0-1) on Monday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. at Yurcak Field on Big Ten+.

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II PREVIOUSLY ON ...

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.
Rutgers moved to 3-0 in season openers under third-year head coach Jim McElderry.
DeVizio, a senior captain, scored his first collegiate goal in his 39th career game.
Temple scored career goal No. 8 in his 26th match "On the Banks."

III RU EXPERIENCED?: The vast majority of the group that found so much success last Spring is back for the Fall. The Scarlet Knights welcome back 10 returning starters. In all, 19 players who saw action last Spring return for the Fall, making up 24 of the 27 points scored and 91 percent of the minutes played throughout the roster. Rutgers returns some hardware with graduate student striker Ritchie Barry staying on for his fifth year after being named All-Big Ten Second Team in the Spring.

IV SCOUTING THE OWLS: Temple University earned a 0-0 draw against No. 10 Seton Hall on Thursday in the first of two games in New Jersey to start the 2021 season. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Eoin Gawronski was the man of the match with six saves in the shutout, including three in overtime and a penalty stop to prevent a Seton Hall Golden Goal. Temple returns the core of a powerhouse offense from last season, which ended 5-4-2 in American Athletic Conference action. Just one goal-scorer departed a team that finished second in the American in goals scored (17).

V HISTORY VS. TEMPLE: An old Atlantic 10 rivalry is rekindled in the 39th playing of the fixture since 1947. Rutgers holds the slim 19-17-2 advantage over Temple in the all-time series. Last time out, the Scarlet Knights won their 2019 season opener (and head coach Jim McElderry's Rutgers debut) by a 1-0 score over the Owls in Philadelphia. Oren Asher, making his collegiate debut in goal, made five saves in the shutout.

VI PLAYERS TO WATCH: The Big Ten has announced Rutgers men's soccer student-athletes Oren Asher, Pablo Avila, and Ritchie Barry as 2021 Players to Watch as part of the conference's preseason honors.

Asher, a junior goalkeeper from Herzliya, Israel, led four shutout victories during the Spring 2021 season for the Scarlet Knights, a mark that was tied for the second spot in the shutout category in the Big Ten. Asher earned two Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week awards last Spring, the first Rutgers player to repeat the honor in the same season since joining the conference in 2014.

Avila led the Scarlet Knights in scoring in 2019 and is now a two-time captain of the Rutgers squad heading into the Fall of 2021. Avila has consistently increased his presence as a team leader. Despite missing three matches of an already-shortened Spring 2021 campaign, Avila made his mark on and off the pitch as Rutgers tied its best Big Ten mark with four victories. The midfielder from Terrassa, Spain was on the field for all four of Rutgers' shutout victories last season.

Barry made a quick impact on his new squad in the Spring of 2021 after transferring from St. Joseph's. The senior striker from Cardiff, Wales led the Scarlet Knights with four goals, which ranked third in the Big Ten. Two of his four goals, which gave him 17 during his collegiate career, went down as game-winners for Rutgers during a season that ended in its best Big Ten finish (fifth) since 2015.

VII SHUT 'EM OUT: Asher and the defense contributed to the four Rutgers wins last Spring, all via the clean sheet. The goalkeeper now has eight shutouts through two-plus seasons. Asher has been the first to credit the boys in front of him on the shared shutout statistics, including team captain Thomas DeVizio, Vincent Borden, Chris Tiao, Hugo Le Guennec, and Cole Sotack, who all combined for the lion's share of the minutes on defense last season.

VIII SPRING BACK: Head coach Jim McElderry guided Rutgers not only through a nontraditional pandemic season, but also posted four Big Ten wins and finished in fifth place in the conference along the way - both tying program highs since joining the league in 2014. The conference-only campaign finished 4-4-1 and included historic wins for RU: a first-ever victory in seven tries against Michigan State and the program's first triumph over Maryland since 1995. The season ended with a touch of heartbreak as Maryland outlasted the Scarlet Knights, 5-4, in a penalty shootout at the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals following a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes.

IX NEW KIDS "ON THE BANKS": McElderry recruited seven freshmen and three transfers to make up 10 newcomers on the 2021 Fall roster. Xavi Olmos is a grad transfer from Florida International, while Jason Bouregy (American) and Jace Orvos (Penn State) transfer in as sophomores. The seven first-years include five New Jersey natives - Matthew Acosta, Aurie Briscoe, Bryan Keating, Nico Rosamilia, and Joey Zalinsky - along with Adam Davies from Pennsylvania and Aidan Flynn from the Portland Timbers Academy.

Acosta, Bouregy, Rosamilia, and Zalinsky all made starts in their Rutgers debuts against Delaware, and Rosamilia picked up his first collegiate point with an assist on the game-winning goal.

X OUT OF CONFERENCE IS IN: Thursday's contest with Delaware was Rutgers' first non-conference match in 667 days. Last time RU had a non-conference slate, the Scarlet Knights went 6-1-2 out of conference for its fifth-best non-league winning percentage in school history.

XI THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY: The Rutgers men's soccer roster features 13 New Jersey natives, including five of this year's freshman corps. Five Scarlet Knights have come to the program from the MLS developmental program New York Red Bulls Academy, which trains and plays its home games in the Garden State.

Follow Rutgers men's soccer on Twitter and Instagram (@RUMensSoccer) for all of the latest news and updates. The team is also on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/RUMensSoccer). 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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