Rutgers women's soccer earns dominant win over Michigan
The Rutgers women's soccer team returned home from a three-game road stint to take on Michigan earlier tonight. The Scarlet Knights (7-5-3, 3-3-1) defeated the Wolverines (7-4-3, 3-3-1) by a score of 2-0.
Rutgers nearly got on the scoreboard early when freshman forward Ashley Baran intercepted a sloppy pass from Michigan and had a breakaway toward the net approximately 2 minutes into the game. Baran passed up a shot opportunity and laid the ball off for junior forward Gia Girman, whose shot was saved by Wolverines goalkeeper Stephanie Sparkowski.
Approximately 10 minutes later, the Knights had another breakaway opportunity. This time, Girman dumped it off to Baran, who finished for an easy goal, but she was ruled offside on the pass. The game remained scoreless early on, though Rutgers' attack was showing promise.
The Knights began to control the possession more and more as this game went on. In the 36th minute, senior midfielder and defender Becci Fluchel took a deep shot from outside the box, but Sparkowksi made a nice save.
Tonight's match marked Fluchel's first appearance since September 17, as she was almost a month due to injury.
Rutgers was knocking on the door seemingly the entire half, but the game remained goalless heading into halftime. At halftime, the Knights led 9-2 in shots and 3-0 in shots on goal, but Sparkowski’s three saves kept the game all tied up.
The second half was more even on paper as the Wolverines attempted more shots and shots on goal. Michigan led 13-7 in shots and tied Rutgers 3-3 in shots on goal in the second half.
The deciding goal, though, came in the 70th minute when Fluchel found junior midfielder Kylie Daigle on the edge of the box. Daigle took a touch into the box, settled the ball and blasted the ball into the top of the net with her left foot.
The goal had been brewing since the beginning of the match as the Knights were finally able to cash in on a scoring opportunity.
Less than a minute later, Rutgers extended its lead as junior forward Riley Tiernan got fouled inside the opposing penalty box and drew the penalty kick. Tiernan stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick and slotted the ball past Sparkowski and into the back of the net.
The Knights were able to hold onto the lead despite the Wolverines pushing for a goal in the final 20 minutes. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Olivia Bodmer finished with three saves, all made in the second half.
Rutgers will now look ahead to Sunday when it takes on Michigan State at Yurcak Field on Busch campus. The game will take place at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
With just three regular-season games to go for the Knights, they will be hoping to make a late postseason push.
"We definitely need to win these games. These are huge games for our postseason," said Tiernan. "Just coming out and playing every game with high energy and wanting it more than the other team, that’s what separates us."
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