NCAA Tournament Starting XI: No. 24 Women's Soccer vs. Brown

Nov 11 | Women's Soccer

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The 11 things to know before the Scarlet Knights play a first round NCAA Tournament match against the Bears on Sat., Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The 2022 NCAA Women's Soccer Championships begins with No. 24 and 5-seed Rutgers (13-4-2) hosting Brown (12-2-2) in the first round on Sat., Nov. 12 at 6 p.m. ET and streaming live on ESPN+. The winner will advance to second round to face the winner of 4-seed USC and UC Irvine. The second and third rounds will take place at the highest remaining seed between (1) Alabama, (4) USC, (5) Rutgers, and (8) Portland.

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THE BIG DANCE
RU continues a longstanding tradition of NCAA Championships soccer, making the bracket for the 11th year in a row, 13th time in the last 15 years, and 17th time overall. The Scarlet Knights have been ranked or receiving votes for 15 straight seasons, including every week during the 2022 season. The team enters the NCAA Tournament at No. 23 in the latest RPI. Rutgers will look to make at least the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time in its 17th appearance in the championship bracket.

The Scarlet Knights are 15-11-9 overall in the NCAA Tournament, including a 10-1-4 mark at home at Yurcak Field.

It will be the Bears' third straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and ninth overall. Brown, three-time defending Ivy League champions, will be playing on the road in the first round for the first time in the last three years after hosting in each of the previous two seasons.

This will be the first meeting all-time between the Bears and Scarlet Knights.

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SCOUTING THE BEARS: Brown ends the regular season ranked No. 23 in TopDrawerSoccer's National Ranking and at No 28 in the NCAA DI RPI.

The Bears posted historic numbers on both sides of the ball this season with 48 goals for and just 12 goals against. The 48 goals scored by the Bears are their most in the last 42 seasons. Only twice have they scored more; 56 in 1979 and 50 in 1977. The 48 goals also led the Ivy League and were 10^th in the country. The 12 goals against are tied for seventh-fewest in program history and their +36 scoring margin is the second-best ever by a Bear squad. Only their mark of +38 in 1977 tops this year's effort.

Brittany Raphino continued her incredible career this year with her second straight Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year award after also being named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year following her freshman season. She is also now a three-time First Team All-Ivy selection. Her nine goals and 22 points led the team and were both second in the conference. Ava Seelenfeund completes the dynamic duo pairing with Raphino and posted a career year herself. She was named First Team All-Ivy for the second straight year and is now a three-time all-league selection. Her nine goals and 19 points on the year were both career-highs. Seelenfreund and Raphino were the only pair of Ivy League teammates to both post at least 19 points on the season.

Kayla Duran followed up her first season with Brown where she was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Ivy with her second straight First Team selection. The transfer from Boston College, where she was named to the All-ACC Freshman Team, has been a key piece of the Bears' back line in both of the last two seasons, helping to lead the team to 14 shutouts across 2021 and 2022.

Goalkeeper Bella Schopp was named to the Honorable Mention All-Ivy team. Schopp started eight games in goal on the year and saw action in nine. Her .56 goals against average led the Ivy League and .818 save percentage was second. Her GAA was 16^th nationally.

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FAMILY STYLE: The Scarlet Knights' offense has been powered by a selfless style of passing and an unpredictable source of origin. Thirty-two of their 36 goals scored in the run of play have been assisted, and the total assists (41) are keeping up with the totals goals (42) thanks to one-time passing crediting double assists. Four of Rutgers' 41 goals have been scored from the penalty spot.

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.

With the team's offense ranked in the Top 25 of the nation, no single player is ranked above No. 127 in scoring (Sam Kroeger and Allison Lowrey's seven goals).

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ROAD WARRIORS: Rutgers began the 2022 season on the road with the intention of training for postseason games away from Piscataway, New Jersey. The two victories at the Lobo Invitational over New Mexico and UNLV, and the win at Providence marked the first time in program history that Rutgers played three matches away from home to start a season and won them all. The Aug. 25 road date at Providence was the first time RU played three matches away from home to start a season since 2001.

"To reach our goals, we have to win at home and we have to win on the road," said head coach Mike O'Neill. "We wanted to challenge our comfort zone early, and we liked the added benefit of bonding as a team and building team chemistry with some early time on the road together."

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RUTGERS RANKED: RU has been ranked No. 24 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 Nov. 6, Rutgers is among the nation's leaders in goals (27th, 42), assists (21st, 41), and points (22nd, 125). The 2.2 goals per match comes in at 23rd in the nation.

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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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CHASING HISTORY: Graduate student goalkeeper Meagan McClelland is already the school record holder in minutes played and at the 56:21 mark of the Minnesota match, became the NCAA Division I all-time leader in minutes played in the sport of women's soccer with 8,998:08 (and counting). She heads to the postseason with 9,302:27 career minutes played.

Riley Tiernan (6) and Sara Brocious (7) lead in 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 16 career assists and is one away from breaking into the Top 10. The all-time assist record at Rutgers is 29 set by Gina DeMaio from 2006-10.

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THE CLEANEST SHEET: With eight shutouts in 2022, graduate student goalkeeper Meagan McClelland continues her reign as the NCAA Division I career leader in shutouts with 43. With 9,392:27 minutes played in her career, McClelland passed Virginia's Laurel Ivory NCAA record for all-time minutes played set 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 17 of 19 matches this season, including 10 with three or fewer shots on target allowed.

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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.

Stay up to date on the latest news and schedule updates by following Rutgers women's soccer on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Download the Scarlet Knights App for Apple or Android today.
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