Rutgers women's soccer to take on Wisconsin in Big Ten semifinals
The Rutgers women’s soccer team has become 1 of the final 4 teams remaining in the 2021 Big Ten Tournament after defeating Michigan State and Ohio State 1-0 each in the Big Ten Regional Weekend. The Scarlet Knights (8-2-3, 6-2-3) will now look to their semifinals matchup this Thursday against Wisconsin in State College, Pennsylvania.
Rutgers is entering its second straight Big Ten Tournament semifinals matchup, as it fell in the same round in last season’s tournament to Michigan 2-1 in overtime.
The Knights, who have scored only 3 goals in the last five games, have made their way into the third round of the tournament. Rutgers has conceded no goals throughout the tournament while scoring both of its goals in the latter stages of each contest.
Against the Spartans (1-10-1, 1-9-1), the Knights dominated ball possession throughout the first-round contest, while totaling 17 shots with eight going on goal. Rutgers also had four corner kicks, while also drawing 17 fouls against Michigan State through approximately 105 minutes of play.
At 105:42 of round one, senior forward/midfielder Amirah Ali scored the first postseason goal for the Knights this year, as she headed a ball off a shot from freshman midfielder Allison Lowery to move Rutgers onto round two.
In round two, the Knights faced a Buckeyes (7-2-3, 6-1-3) team they previously beat on March 7, 2-1. Ohio State, which had a home-field advantage, looked to change outcomes in its second matchup with Rutgers.
Both teams in round two had a strong performance, with the Knights totaling eight shots, five fouls and one save on goal.
At 79:37, freshman midfielder/forward Sam Kroeger sent a corner kick toward the goal that ended up taking a bounce off a Buckeyes defender. The ball went trickling past Bailey Kolinski, as Rutgers scored a go-ahead goal.
The Knights won both matchups 1-0 and are now set to face the Badgers (6-3-3, 4-3-3) this Thursday. Wisconsin enters the semifinal coming off a second-round victory in penalty kicks against Northwestern in order to reach the semifinals.
Rutgers will look to avenge its regular-season loss to the Badgers, as the Knights are also looking for their first win against Wisconsin since Oct. 1, 2017.
Rutgers will face the Badgers on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and will look to move on to their first Big Ten Tournament Championship game since 2016.
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