Rutgers University
Indiana
Men's Soccer to Wrap Up Regular Season At Indiana
Oct 27 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's soccer (5-6-3, 3-3-1 B1G) will travel to Indiana (7-4-4, 3-2-2 B1G) to finish off the regular season on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 12:30 p.m. The contest will be streamed on B1G+.
Last Time Out
Three lead changes and four ties with each team netting a pair of goals in the match's final 12 minutes resulted in Rutgers men's soccer and Northeastern playing to a 4-4 stalemate at Parsons Field on Saturday, Oct. 21.
Rutgers came out on the attack generating plenty of chances early in the match. The Scarlet Knights' efforts paid off as Matthew Acosta broke through in the 27th minute for the first score of the contest.
27' | back2back 🤩
— Rutgers Men's Soccer (@RUMensSoccer) October 21, 2023
Matt Acosta scores his second goal in a row to put Rutgers ahead, 1-0!
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However, with 10 seconds left in the first half, Northeastern evened the score up, 1-1.
The Scarlet Knights went ahead with a 2-1 lead in the 62nd minute. Sawyer Koza sent a pass across the net ending with Ian Abbey sending his bicycle kick inside the near post.
62' | 👀 Ian Abbey 🚲
— Rutgers Men's Soccer (@RUMensSoccer) October 21, 2023
Sawyer Koza crosses to find the sophomore for the acrobatic finish
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Eight minutes later the Huskies knotted the match up at 2-2 with a deflection going into the net from 12-yards out and pulled in front in the 78th minute on a header sent into the box following a corner clear.
In span of three minutes though, Rutgers tied the game up and took back the lead with players from off the bench. Jackson Temple weaved his way across the top of the box finding the gap between a myriad of Notheastern defenders at the top of the 18 into lower right corner for a 3-3 tie in the 81st minute. The 84th minute saw Ola Maeland capitalize on a misplay by the Huskie defense resulting in an open goal look for a 4-3 advantage.
81' | TIED ‼️ Jackson Temple weaving to find the gap in the Huskies defense
— Rutgers Men's Soccer (@RUMensSoccer) October 21, 2023
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84' | THE MOMENTUM CONTINUES ... Ola Maeland is 💰 off the Northeastern misplay in the backfield for a wide open look on goal
— Rutgers Men's Soccer (@RUMensSoccer) October 21, 2023
📺https://t.co/j6e33G2TTz / @NESN
📊https://t.co/xbc0HagJ9L #GoRU | #RUMS#GoRU | #RUMS pic.twitter.com/Gb2Tc65lv0
The scoring on the afternoon, however, was not over as Northeastern was able to poke a header through on a scramble inside the box with less than two minutes remaining for the tie.
2022 Big Ten Tournament Champions
The fall off 2022 was historic for Rutgers, as the team earned its first Big Ten Tournament Championship in program history and first conference title since 1997. The Scarlet Knights became the first men's team at Rutgers and third team overall to win a Big Ten Championship since joining the conference. The victory punched RU's ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.
The staff secured a 10-5-6 overall record, including a 4-2-2 mark in the Big Ten, to earn the No. 2 seed in the tournament, the highest in program history. The team hosted all three rounds of the conference tournament, bringing in record crowds including over 4,200+ fans for the title game.
Top of the Stats
Jackson Temple has continued to be a veteran leader for Rutgers, leading the squad in multiple statistical categories. The graduate student paces the Scarlet Knights in both points (16), goals (6) and assists (4).
Temple scored in three consecutive outings against Columbia (Sept. 13), Michigan State (Sept. 17) and Michigan (Sept. 22) before finding the back of the net again versus Wisconsin (Oct. 13) and Northwestern (Oct. 21). The Millville, Pennsylvania native ranks third overall in the Big Ten in both points and goals.
The Returners
Rutgers returns 22 players from its 2022 Big Ten Tournament title team including key pieces like goalkeeper Ciaran Dalton, forward Ola Maeland and midfielder Cole Cruthers.
The Scarlet Knights will also bring back two graduate students, Jackson Temple and Chris Tiao. Both were huge parts of not only the previous fall season but also the conference tournament as both scored goals in the title run.
Head coach Jim McElderry also returns for his fifth season at the helm of the Scarlet Knights, along with his staff who was named the 2022 United Soccer Coaches North Region Staff of the Year.
Impact Transfers
This offseason, McElderry and the coaching staff welcomed a trio of transfers in Curt Calov (Syracuse), Sawyer Koza (Temple) and Andrew Noel (Pitt).
Calov, a midfielder from Morristown, New Jersey, played a big part in helping Syracuse to its first National Championship in program history in 2022. He scored four goals and provided a career-high seven assists for 14 points.
In the College Cup, as he scored in the 33rd minute in the National Championship match in addition to converting the second penalty in the 7-6 shootout win over Indiana. He also assisted the first goal in a 3-2 win against Creighton at the College Cup Semifinal and opened the Quarterfinals against Vermont with an incredible Olimpico goal from the corner flag in the 11th minute.
In addition, Calov recorded an assist in Syracuse's 2-0 victory against Clemson in the 2022 ACC Championship Final.
Calov has made his impact known since arriving "On The Banks", recording a pair of goals and two assists to tie for fourth on the team with six points.
As a freshman with the Owls, Koza saw action in 13 games and made 10 starts. He recorded three goals, including a career-high two scores against St. Peter's on three shots on goal. He also scored against Stony Brook.
In addition, Koza added two assists during the fall with one against South Florida and his second versus No. 22 Tulsa. He totaled eight points to close out his freshman season at Temple.
Koza has also gotten comfortable in the Scarlet & White, playing in nine games and making one start. He has also registered two shots so far in the fall.
Noel comes "On The Banks" after spending two seasons at Pitt. Although he did not see action on the field, he has seen quite a bit of success playing with the New York Red Bulls Academy. He started for the New York Red Bulls U17 team and was called up to the U17 US National Camp junior year. He won two penalty shootouts in the GA cup junior season and was later called up to the U18 National Team camp. Senior year, Noel was called up to the USL and started for the New York Red Bulls U19 team.
Featuring Freshmen
RU welcomed a group of five freshman this offseason "On The Banks" including Nick Collins, Francesco Di Ponzio, Luciano Sanchez, Erick Ruiz and Devon Stopek.
All of the newcomers call New Jersey home and will remain in the Garden State for their collegiate soccer careers. Each of the rookies has made a big impact on their respective club teams and will continue to play a big part at Rutgers.
The five newcomers have all made their mark on the program early in the season, each seeing minutes on the pitch.
Collins (10), Ruiz (7), Stopek (8) and Sanchez (6) have all started multiple games for the Scarlet Knights this season. The group all started for the first time this season together against Wisconsin (Oct. 13). At least two rookies have started in six outings this fall and three have started four times.
Ruiz scored his first goal of the season against Michigan (Sept. 22) for the first points of his collegiate career.
Sanchez has been solid at striker as well, ranking sixth on the squad five points, recording an assist in the season opener at Delaware (Aug. 24) and notching two goals against Saint Peter's (Sept. 4) and Columbia (Sept. 13).
The group of five rookies, including Francesco Di Ponzio, have already collectively played 2,930 minutes on the pitch and combined for 31 starts.
Looking Into the Hoosiers
Indiana had gone six games without a loss until its most recent contest, as the team fell to Northwestern, 1-0, on Oct. 24.
The Hoosiers own the 4-10-3 all-time edge over the Scarlet Knights, however IU hasn't beaten RU since 2021. Rutgers drew Indiana (2-2) in the regular season before recording a 3-1 victory in the Big Ten title match to win their first conference championship.
Next Up
Rutgers will await its fate in the Big Ten Tournament following Sunday's game. The Quarterfinals will take place on Friday, Nov. 3. Time and location are still TBD.
Follow Along
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