No. 8 Rutgers women's soccer shuts out in-state rival Princeton
Following a dominating win against Temple on Thursday night, Rutgers women’s soccer hosted Princeton yesterday afternoon. With the No. 8 Scarlet Knights (6-0, 0-0) outscoring opponents 18-2 entering this game, Rutgers added 3 more goals in a shutout victory over the Tigers (3-1, 0-0).
The Knights continued their trend of taking early leads this season, with junior forward Sam Kroeger scoring in the 2nd minute. Kroeger scored her 4th goal of the season on the first shot of the game off of a pass from sophomore forward Kylie Daigle.
Seventy-five seconds later, Kroeger scored for the fifth time this year to double the Rutgers lead. This time junior midfielder Becci Fluchel assisted on the strike. The Knights took a lead in a contest in the second quickest amount of time this season. Against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Rutgers went up in 61 seconds before winning 5-1 in mid-August.
After 45 minutes, the Knights outshot Princeton 8-3, while the Tigers committed eight fouls compared to four for Rutgers. Both goalkeepers also saw saves added to their scorecards. Senior goalkeeper Meagan McClelland stopped two shots in the first 45 minutes, while Princeton goalkeeper Tyler McCamey denied three.
The second half saw the Knights defense face a heavy Tigers attack. Although Princeton could not find the back of the net, the team put up nine shots in the second half, leading McClelland to save three of them. The Tigers also took six fouls but forced Rutgers into seven and a yellow card that went against junior midfielder Sara Brocious.
The Knights would end up scoring a 3rd goal in the second half. At 82:43, junior forward Allison Lowrey found the back of the net for the fourth time this season. Brocious would get the assist on the goal to put the icing on the cake for the team.
By the time the game reached 90 minutes, Rutgers had secured a 3-0 win.
The Knights are next put to the test on Thursday, when La Salle comes to Yurcak Field on Busch campus.
"We always talk about the first five minutes and how it's one of the most important parts of a game, so we wanted to get a few goals to get ahead," Kroeger said.
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