BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Rutgers men's soccer (5-0-1) enters Big Ten play on Friday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. ET with a trip to No. 11 ranked Indiana, the three-time defending Big Ten Tournament champions and last season's NCAA Championships runner-up. The Scarlet Knights are looking for their first point against a ranked team since a 0-0 draw against No. 4 Indiana in 2016 and their first win against a ranked side since a 2015 win over No. 18 Ohio State.

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PREVIOUSLY ON ... 

• Freshman Nico Rosamilia scored his first two collegiate goals in a 2-1 victory for Rutgers 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.
• Sophomore forward Ola Maeland, who came off the bench with Rosamilia, assisted on both goals, giving him three helpers on the season.

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SCOUTING THE HOOSIERS: Over the last five seasons, Indiana holds a record of 30-2-8 against Big Ten opponents in the regular season and have outscored the conference foes 73-19 during that stretch. The Hoosiers, the 2021 preseason poll favorites and three-time defending Big Ten regular season and tournament champions, are 23-2-5 all time in B1G openers. Redshirt junior defender Daniel Munie was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 14 after holding a potent Akron offense to one goal and scoring Indiana's lone goal in a 1-1 (2OT) draw against the Zips.

Tommy Mihalic leads the club with his two goals. Roman Celentano is between the pipes with a .714 save percentage, a 1.14 goals-against average, and two shutouts.

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HISTORY VS. INDIANA: Indiana holds a 10-2-2 advantage in the 14 previous matchups played between the two programs. IU has not surrendered a goal against RU since Sept. 20, 2015 and has outscored its counterpart by a tally of 12-0 in the five matches (4-0-1) since then. The two sides have met seven times on the pitch since Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference ahead of the 2014 season. Indiana holds a series edge of 5-1-1 in those games.

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COMING UP ROSAMILIA: Scarlet Knight rookie Nico Rosamilia jumped into the team lead with five points thanks to his two goals in the 2-1 victory over Saint Joseph's on Monday. The Roseland, New Jersey native started the first three games of the season, grabbing his first collegiate point on Rutgers' very first goal of the 2021 season, an assist to Thomas DeVizio. Rosamilia is a product of Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls development academy, where he netted 12 goals in 2020 and earned "Man of the Match" honors in consecutive weeks against the Montreal Impact and DC United.

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RAKING IN THE HONORS: Rutgers has earned a Big Ten Player of the Week honor in all three weeks to start the 2021 season. Nico Rosamilia is the latest with the Offensive Player of the Week honor on Sept. 14. Thomas DeVizio was also named to the Top Drawer Soccer National Team of the Week for his two assists in the win over Lehigh from Sept. 10. It was the second national honor of the season, joining Oren Asher's College Soccer News Team of the Week distinction from Sept. 7.

Asher is a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Asher and the defense were one of just two teams in NCAA Division I to post four shutouts in their first four matches. Asher was the only goalkeeper in the nation with 380 minutes played and no goals allowed. Asher is still tied with nine others for the national lead in shutouts, while Rutgers ranks 19th in the nation and first in the Big Ten with a 0.48 goals-against average.

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CAPTAINS CLUTCH: Senior captains Pablo Avila and Thomas DeVizio had a huge hand in the last two wins. Avila scored the insurance goal in the 2-0 win over Mount St. Mary's last Monday, then opened the Scarlet Knights' three-goal assault in the 3-2 victory against Lehigh on Friday. DeVizio, who scored his first collegiate goal in the season opening 2-0 win over Delaware, added another first to his career on Friday with his first collegiate multi-assist game - passing a pair of balls for the tying and game-winning goals against Lehigh.

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OUT OF CONFERENCE IS IN: The season opener against 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.

Rutgers is now 11-1-3 in non-conference action under head coach Jim McElderry.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Freshmen Acosta and Zalinsky both made starts in five of the six games early this season.


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