WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Rutgers women's soccer (11-1-1, 3-1-1) blanked Purdue (3-8-1, 0-4-1) in a 3-0 victory on Sunday afternoon at Folk Field and live on Big Ten Network. Sophomore back
Emily Mason recorded her first collegiate brace before halftime to push Rutgers to an early lead it would not relinquish in Rutgers' seventh shutout win of the season.
It took just 4:21 into the contest for
Sam Kroeger to score the eventual game-winner. With her patented ferocity on a left-footed shot, she finished the pass from
Kylie Daigle from 20-yards out inside the near post for the 1-0 lead.
Daigle also had her foot on the second goal in the 12th minute. Her corner kick was fired in through the hands of the Purdue keeper, falling to Mason for the quick volley into the back of the net for the early 2-0 Rutgers advantage.
Mason kept pushing forward and was rewarded with her first collegiate brace in the 36th. Another Daigle corner kick pinballed around the Purdue 18-yard box before
Becci Fluchel fired an attempt that was deflected toward Mason, who slid for a shot into the side of the net. Rutgers led 3-0 on two of Mason's three collegiate goals.
"Scoring two goals was extremely exciting especially coming off corner kicks because we have been practicing them a lot lately," Mason said. "After being on the road for a while, it's a really good feeling coming home with a win. We're excited to be home for the next few games and playing on Yurcak Field."
Purdue turned up the pressure in the second half while keeping Rutgers from adding to the 3-0 lead. The Boilermakers placed three of their seven shots on target, including one in the final two seconds of the match, but all the attempts were turned away by graduate student goalkeeper
Meagan McClelland. The Kearny, New Jersey native keeper finished with four saves in her 41st career clean sheet.
Overall, Rutgers outshot Purdue, 26-10, following the dominating 20-3 shot advantage in the first half. The Scarlet Knights targeted 11 of their 26 shots on net and earned 10 corner kicks on the day. Kroeger (2), Mason (2),
Sara Brocious (2), and
Riley Tiernan (3) all took multiple shots on goal in the victory.
"On the road, it always takes a little more out of us, so it's all about staying focused and staying hungry," Tiernan said. "We know we are going to get every team's best performance and best effort, so doing as much as we can to overpower that is important. We play together and we bend but we never break, and that's what our differentiates our team from everyone else. You can't control how the game goes, but you can control your effort and ability to work together."
After her first collegiate brace, Mason finished off the 90-minute effort in the shutout on the backline, joined by senior back
Allison Lynch playing the entirety of the 3-0 clean sheet win.
"I think it was a great team effort to get the job done," said junior back
Emma Misal. "We always say, 'Don't just talk about it, be about it.' Before the game, we said we needed a shutout today. Everyone took it seriously and did what we had to do. We're all happy to come home with a 3-0 win, but we realize we still have a lot more to prove."
KNIGHT NOTES
- Meagan McClelland recorded shutout No. 41 of her career to maintain her NCAA active career lead. She is now four shutouts away from tying the program record held by current U.S. Women's National Team keeper Casey Murphy.
- Rutgers has held all 13 opponents to six shots on goal or less.
- Career goal numbers: Sam Kroeger (13), Emily Mason (3)
- Emily Mason recorded her first career multi-goal game.
- Career assist numbers: Kylie Daigle (10), Becci Fluchel (9)
- Kylie Daigle picked up multiple assists in a match for the first time in her collegiate career.
- Rutgers is now 6-0-1 all-time against Purdue, and moved to 2-0-1 in West Lafayette.
UP NEXT: The Scarlet Knights get the midweek off before returning home to host Indiana on Sun., Oct. 9 at 3 p.m. at Yurcak Field and live on ESPN2.
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