EVANSTON, Ill. – The Rutgers men's soccer team (3-5-2, 1-1-2 B1G) will travel to face Big Ten front runner Northwestern (8-0-3, 2-0-1 B1G) on Sunday, Oct. 8. The match will be streamed on B1G+.
Last Time Out
The Scarlet Knights defeated Maryland (1-6-2, 0-4-1 B1G) on Tuesday Oct. 3, 2-1, for the program's first-ever win on the road at Ludwig Field. Ola Maeland and Ian Abbey scored for RU while Ciaran Dalton held it down in goal, recording 10 saves for a career-high performance.
Maeland got things going for the Scarlet Knights, scoring off his own rebound that bounced off the post in the seventh minute.
Then in the 19th minute, Abbey followed up with another score off the rebound from a hard shot by Matthew Acosta, to give RU a 2-0 edge.
Maryland cut the lead in half with a goal just before halftime in the 32nd minute.
In the 62nd minute, RU successfully defended a Terrapins penalty kick opportunity, that went wide of the goal, to hold onto the 2-1 lead. Rutgers went to a five-man formation on the backline to finish out the game with a strong defensive performance and clinch the 2-1 victory.
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.
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.
Top of the Stats
Jackson Temple picked up where he left off last season, leading RU in multiple statistical categories. The graduate student paces the Scarlet Knights in both points (10), goals (4) and assists (2) early in the season.
The graduate student has scored in the team's past three outings against Columbia (Sept. 13), Michigan State (Sept. 17) and Michigan (Sept. 22). Temple's four goals ranks third in the Big Ten while his 10 points rank second.
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 goal and a pair of assists to tie for third on the team with four 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 six 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 (7), Ruiz (5), Stopek (4) and Sanchez (4) have all started multiple games for the Scarlet Knights this season.
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 second on the team with 19 shots and tied for first with 10 attempts on frame. He is second on the squad with 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).
All five freshman have combined for 1,903 minutes on the pitch and 20 starts.
Scouting the Wildcats
Northwestern is in the midst of a historic fall season, having not dropped a game yet this fall. The Wildcats currently pace the Big Ten with 22 goals as Justin Weiss paces the league with six scores as well as six assists for 18 points.
The team tied Green Bay (0-0) in their most recent outing after defeating both Maryland (2-0) and Ohio State (4-2) in Big Ten play. In its conference opener, NU drew Wisconsin (2-2).
Rutgers owns the 6-5 all-time edge over Northwestern and has won the last three matchups. Last season, the Scarlet Knights topped the Wildcats at Yurcak, 4-2. RU is 2-2 all-time playing in Evanston, Illinois.
Next Up
In its second Friday Knight Lights of the slate on Oct. 13, Rutgers will go up against Wisconsin (6 p.m.) for its Alumni and Blackout game. In addition to welcoming back letterwinners from multiple generations, the team is encouraging everyone to wear black at Yurcak Field. The Scarlet Knights will once again honor New Jersey Youth Soccer during the contest and give out Rutgers Soccer thunder sticks.
The contest will be broadcast live nationally on the Big Ten Network.
Follow Along
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