Rutgers women’s soccer wasted little time in taking control of the first game of the 2023 season on Thursday night at Yurcak Field in front of 927 fans. After two early goals, the Scarlet Knights never looked back and pushed the pace the entire evening. RU won by a final score of 2-0, marking an eighth straight season opening victory.
In the 6th minute, Becci Fluchel played a ball into the box. After Allie Post’s shot was deflected, Riley Tiernan scored off of a rebound. It was the 13th goal of her career and gave Rutgers an early 1-0 lead. In Post’s first career start, the sophomore notched her third career assist.
A bit later in the 14th minute, Allison Lowrey was taken down in the box on the attack. She made it 2-0 after a successful penalty kick. It was the 16th goal of her Rutgers career.
Rutgers dominated the rest of the way, finishing the game with a 22-2 shot advantage. The Scarlet Knights also held a 10-2 edge in shots on goal.
True freshman Ashley Beran came close to scoring in the 87th minute as her shot went off the top right post.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Olivia Bodmer made her first career start and notched a clean sheet with two saves.
“It’s always difficult attacking a team that sits in,” said head coach Mike O’Neill. “There’s not a lot of space to play, so sometimes you force it and it takes away confidence. We need to stick to the way we play, and I felt at times, we did that and created chances. Now we just need to get a little better at the execution.”
Another positive in the game was the return of star defender Emily Mason. After tearing her ACL near the end of last season, having her play 42 minutes off the bench was a great development.
Three-time First Team All-Big East selection Gia Vicari started up front in her Rutgers debut and registered one shot.
Sophomore back Naila Schoefberger joined Post and Bodmer in making her first career start. Freshmen Olivia Russomanno and Alyssa Martinez made their collegiate debuts along with Beran.
Rutgers will next host Hofstra on Sunday, August 20 at 7:00 p.m. at Yurcak Field. The Pride are the defending CAA Tournament champions and advanced to the NCAAs last fall. They dropped their season opener on Thursday night 1-0 on the road at Albany.
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Biochemist01
August 18, 2023 at 4:26 pm
Solid win by the talented ladies. Great to see so many players get time on the pitch.