PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Freshman
Nico Rosamilia scored his first two collegiate goals in a 2-1 victory for Rutgers men's soccer (5-0-1) against Saint Joseph's (1-5-0) on Monday night at Yurcak Field.
The rookie striker tallied his first goals as a college player just 2:19 apart on the game clock with the opening score in the final minute of the first half, and the insurance goal for a 2-0 Rutgers lead coming right after halftime in the 47
th minute.
Both goals looked strikingly similar on different ends of the pitch. Each play involved sophomore forward
Ola Maeland pressuring the ball deep in Hawks territory. In the 45
th, he played a back pass from the end line to Rosamilia, who settled with one touch and beat the keeper. The second half goal was tighter against the goalkeeper, and Maeland tapped the ball at the last second into space for an easy Rosamilia tap-in. Both Maeland and Rosamilia came off the bench on Monday.
The second goal proved valuable as SJU got one back in the 88
th minute, but the comeback stopped there. With the two helpers in Monday's win, Maeland has racked up five points over the past three matches after scoring and assisting one week ago in the 2-0 win over Mount St. Mary's.
"I don't think we played our best soccer tonight, but was proud of the fight," said head coach
Jim McElderry. "We were able to keep our legs fresh and generate some great offensive chances with Nico and Ola coming in as substitutes in the first half. We were able to disrupt enough of their momentum in the second half to gut out the win. Plenty to work on this week ahead of a tough one at Indiana.
With the win looming large ahead of Friday's Big Ten opener at defending conference champion and national runner-up Indiana, the Scarlet Knights improve to 11-1-3 in non-conference matches since McElderry took over in 2019.
The Scarlet Knights ran deep on Monday with 21 players seeing action, including sophomore
Moussa Sabaly, who made his season debut after missing the first five matches with an injury. Defenders
Vincent Borden and
Joey Zalinsky went the distance with 90 minutes on the log in the victory.
SJU held a 14-13 advantage in overall shot attempts, but only placed three on goal compared to Rutgers' eight – led by Rosamilia's three on target. RU earned 10 corner kicks to SJU's eight.
The Scarlet Knights kick off at No. 9 Indiana on Friday at 8 p.m. on Big Ten+ from Bloomington.
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.
- RU -
