PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers men's soccer team (2-4-2, 0-1-1 B1G) will face off against Ohio State (2-4-2, 0-2-0 B1G) for Friday Night Lights at Yurcak Field on Sept. 29. The contest will begin at 7 p.m. and be available to stream on B1G+.
Last Time Out
Rutgers came out hot in the contest, with a goal in the third minute. Curt Calov connected with Ruiz for the first score of his collegiate career.
Temple followed it up in the 20th minute, with help from Jason Bouregy, scoring another goal to give the Scarlet Knights a 2-0 lead at the half.
Just a few minutes into the second half, Michigan broke through to cut RU's lead in half, 2-1. The Wolverines added on two more goals to come away with the 3-2 win.
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 and Ruiz have started the most recent five games on the backline this season while Stopek and Sanchez have started two games apiece.
Ruiz scored his first goal of the season against the Wolverines last week for the first points of his career.
Sanchez has been solid at striker as he paces the team with 17 shots and 10 attempts on frame. He ranks 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 1,443 minutes on the pitch and 14 starts.
Scouting Ohio State
Ohio State has been off to a rocky start in Big Ten play, falling to both Penn State (3-0) and Northwestern (4-2). The Buckeye's only wins this season have come against Butler (1-0) and most recently Kentucky (3-0) both in the month of September. The opponent is 1-1 on the road this season.
Ohio State owns the slight 5-4-1 all-time edge over Rutgers. However, the Scarlet Knights haven't dropped a contest to OSU since 2019 and won their last meeting, 2-1, in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals to advance to the title match.
Next Up
Rutgers will take the short trip to College Park to face Maryland (1-4-2, 0-2-1 B1G) on Tuesday, Oct. 3 for a 7 p.m. match. The game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
Follow Along
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