WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – No. 10 Rutgers women's soccer (10-1-1, 2-1-1) visits Purdue (3-7-1, 0-3-1) on Sun., Oct. 2 at 12 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) at Folk Field and live on Big Ten Network with Dean Linke and Lauren Link on the call. Rutgers plays the final leg of a two-game road trip in the Midwest before returning home for three consecutive Big Ten matches at Yurcak Field.

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HOW TO FOLLOW: Watch on Big Ten Network/Fox Sports App | Live Stats | @ruwsoccer on Instagram

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PREVIOUSLY ON...
Rutgers earned a Big Ten point on the road at No. 8 Northwestern (9-1-2, 3-0-1) after a 1-1 draw on Thursday evening at Martin Stadium. Playing in the program's first Top 10 matchup in the regular season since 2009, Allison Lowrey scored her team-leading seventh goal of the season to equalize the contest in the 48th minute.
 
The Wildcats, coming into the contest with their highest national ranking in program history, scored early for the 1-0 lead in the ninth minute on their first shot on goal. That's all they would muster against Rutgers goalkeeper Meagan McClelland, who made five saves, including three highlight-reel stops in the second half to keep Rutgers in the game.

Just 2:44 out of the halftime break, sophomore back Emily Mason played a smart long ball to junior midfielder Sara Brocious, who collected and began an attack deep in Wildcat territory. Brocious led Lowrey for the breakaway chance and Lowrey pushed the shot to the right of the keeper to level the contest at 1-1.

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SCOUTING THE BOILERMAKERS: Purdue began its season in grand fashion with a 3-0 win at home over No. 15 USC, but lost seven of its next nine, including losses to ranked foes No. 9 Notre Dame (3-1) and No. 18 Northwestern (3-0). The Boilermakers also lost 5-2 to Wisconsin in Big Ten play before drawing 1-1 at home with Nebraska their last time out on Thursday evening.

Purdue is being outscored, 21-13. On the offensive front, Gracie Dunaway has a big team lead in points with 12 on five goals and two assists. Emily Mathews leads in the assist department with five on the season. Kailey Kimball has received the call in net lately with a 2.22 GAA and .545 SV%. Sara Kile has started seven matches in net with a 1.69 GAA and .771 SV%.

Rutgers is unbeaten against Purdue at 5-0-1 since joining the Big Ten in 2014, including a 1-0-1 mark in West Lafayette. The Scarlet Knights are outscoring the Boilermakers, 10-2, in the series.

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HISTORIC START: The 2022 Scarlet Knights are the only team in Rutgers women's soccer history to start a season 9-0-0. They surpassed the 8-0-0 start by the 2015 College Cup team, who lost their ninth match. Before the setback at Penn State, the Scarlet Knights had won 20 consecutive regular season games dating back to Sept. 16, 2021. Prior to Thursday, the team's last regular season loss came on Sept. 12, 2021 at Georgetown.

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RUTGERS RANKED: RU has been ranked No. 10 in the latest United Soccer Coaches National Poll. The Scarlet Knights began at No. 6 in the preseason poll, marking 11 of the last 13 seasons Rutgers received votes in the national preseason vote, before rising to No. 3 in Week 1 after a 2-0-0 start - matching the highest rank in program history.

• Through matches on Sept. 29, Rutgers is among the nation's leaders in goals (12th, 31), assists (6th, 31), and points (10th, 93). The 2.7 goals per match comes in at 16th in the nation.
• Sam Kroeger and Allison Lowrey each own three game-winning goals to rank 15th in the NCAA.
• Riley Tiernan and Sara Brocious each have six assists, ranking 13th in the NCAA.
• Allison Lowrey's seven goals are 24th in the country.
• The Big Ten coaches voted Rutgers to repeat as conference champions, coming in a first-place tie with Penn State in the annual preseason poll. The poll marks the first time in Rutgers Athletics history a Scarlet Knight team has been picked No. 1, and it also marks the first time in conference history the women's soccer preseason poll resulted in a tie for the top spot.

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FAMILY STYLE: The Scarlet Knights' early offense has been powered by a selfless style of passing and an unpredictable source of origin through five matches. Twenty-five of their 31 goals have been assisted, and the total assists (31) are keeping up with the totals goals (31) thanks to one-time passing crediting double assists.

Fourteen different Scarlet Knights have registered a point thus far in 2022, including 11 different goal scorers and 12 different assisters. Nine goals spanning wins over Buffalo and Temple were all scored by different players, including all seven against Temple on Sept. 1.

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CHASING HISTORY: Riley Tiernan and Sara Brocious each have six assists this season and are marching up the record book in career helpers at RU. Tiernan is tied for eighth all-time with 19 and needs four more to enter the Top 5. Brocious has 15 career assists and is two away from breaking into the Top 10. The all-time assist record at Rutgers is 29 set by Gina DeMaio from 2006-10.

Graduate student goalkeeper Meagan McClelland is already the school record holder in minutes played and with 94 matches played, is chasing Amirah Ali's program record of 103.

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THE CLEANEST SHEET: With five shutouts in the first 12 matches, graduate student goalkeeper Meagan McClelland opens the 2022 season as the NCAA Division I career leader in shutouts with 40. With 8,762:27 minutes played in her career, McClelland is aiming for the NCAA all-time career record for minutes played of 8,998:07 set by Virginia's Laurel Ivory in 2021.

The Kearny keeper recorded 13 shutouts and 83 saves on the year in 2021, including five clean sheets against league opponents in the run to the conference title. She maintained a 0.67 GAA in net, helping RU extend its streak to eight straight seasons registering a GAA of 0.77 or less.

McClelland is the first to credit the defense in front of her, which has allowed six shots on goal or fewer in all 12 matches, including seven with three or fewer shots on target allowed.

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THE REIGNING CHAMPS: The 10-0 Big Ten record in 2021 marked the first undefeated conference season in Rutgers women's soccer history, becoming the first Big Ten team to accomplish the feat since 2005. RU outscored the conference competition 23-6 on its way to the school's first Big Ten title. The 10-0 run was part of a program-record 13-match winning streak that carried into the Big Ten Tournament.

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GUESS WHO'S BACK?: Rutgers returns nine starters (15 or more starts) and 17 letterwinners from the 2021 College Cup squad.

Returning "On the Banks" this fall are Big Ten Freshman of the Year and All-Region First Team performer Riley Tiernan (an NCAA Division I Preseason Player to Watch) and All-Region goalkeeper Meagan McClelland. Junior midfielder Becci Fluchel (All-Big Ten Second Team) also returns with All-Conference honors from last fall.

Graduate student back Adriana Kuryla celebrated her birthday in the season-opening win at New Mexico by playing all 90 minutes in the shut out after playing in just two matches last season due to injuries.

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NEW KIDS "ON THE BANKS": Coach Mike O'Neill signed five freshmen to the 2022 roster (Hannah Blodget, Olivia Bodmer, Mallory McGuire, Allie Post, and Naila Schoefberger) and welcomed five transfers to the mix (Niamh Cashin - Rider, Hailey Gutowski - Temple, Jessica Schildkraut - Columbia, Emily Smith - American, and Naya Vialva - La Salle).

Allie Post and Mallory McGuire scored their first collegiate goals against Temple on Sept. 1, while Hannah Blodget picked up her first point with an assist in the victory. Hailey Gutowski leads the newcomers in scoring with five points on two goals and an assist, while Post has totaled four points on a goal and two helpers.


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