Rutgers Olympic sports continue up and down fall

Wrestling

Yeah, I know. But I can’t help myself.

Practice opened and it gets even better!

Okay, on to the sports currently competing.

Women’s Golf

If you’re going to play golf, why not do it close to where it all started. If not Scotland, try Ireland as the Rutgers women did. They picked up two victories, one over the University of Richmond and one in “international play” over College Cork. The Cork competition was in match play, won by RU 7-0.

“The matches were tighter today and very competitive to the very end,” said head coach Kari Williams. “Our players needed to battle for every point and we were able to come out with the win. This match-play event was a great challenge for all of our players and I saw their games develop on the course this week."

Earlier in the week, the women finished 8th of 15 teams at The Johnie Imes Invitational at the University of Missouri. Redshirt sophomore Ashleigh Greenham led the Knights for a second consecutive event, carding a 217 (77-69-71) to finish tied for 12th in the 81-player field. Rutgers moved up the standings each day. The team’s final round 293 was the fourth best of the day among a competitive field and helped RU improve two places in the final results. Host Missouri won the Invitational with an 864, three strokes better than second place Fresno State (867).

Men’s Golf

The Rutgers men also competed in Ireland. And based on this Tweet, I should have taken up golf a lot earlier in life.

Results, though, were not available when we posted. We will update.

Women’s Volleyball

It simply does not get any easier for this squad. Think football had it bad over the last couple of weeks? Big Ten Volleyball at this time has eight teams in the Top 25, including then-No. 2 (now No. 1) Wisconsin (13-1, 5-0 B1G) which topped the Knights, 3-0 at the College Ave. Gym on Oct. 5. That was followed up with a visit to No. 10 Penn State (14-3, 6-0 B1G). And another loss.

Men’s & Women’s Cross Country

The team placed third overall at the 2016 Metropolitan Championships last Friday. Deanna DiLandro (9th) and Alexandra Juzwiak (10th) each placed in the top 10 at the Championships held at Van Cortlandt Park.

Host Fordham won the women’s 5K race with 41 points followed by Manhattan in second with 61 points and Rutgers in third with 75.

On the men’s side, RU finished in second place at the Metropolitans.

Junior Trent Brinkofski placed fifth and sophomore Dominick Munson finished sixth to highlight RU's championship appearance. Manhattan captured the Met Championships' crown, while Columbia secured third place.

Field Hockey (7-5, 1-3 B1G)

A conference loss to Michigan was followed by a thrilling overtime win versus St. Joseph’s. Rutgers fell 3-1 to the No. 10 Wolverines (8-4, 3-2 Big Ten). Rachel Yaney tallied the lone goal for Rutgers.

"I'm disappointed with the result," head coach Meredith Civico said. "We didn't take enough shots, we didn't generate enough outcomes, and that was a big part of our game plan. I know that we have much better hockey to play. I'm looking forward to getting back out here Sunday and competing. I know that the team can make these adjustments and can move forward. I have a lot of confidence and belief in them to compete and win in the Big Ten."

And they did adjust, coming back to top the Hawks, 1-0 on Alyssa Bull’s goal.

Women’s Swimming & Diving

Rutgers swimming and diving finished with 364 team points at the Florida Gulf Coast University Classic on Saturday in Fort Myers. LSU captured the team title with 495 points, followed by Big Ten Conference member Ohio State (492) and Virginia Tech (476).

“We saw a lot of good things this weekend and lot of great responses to what we have been targeting in workouts the last three weeks,” said head coach Petra Martin. “This is very early in the year for us and we still have a lot of things to work on and to turn into consistent habits, but we can definitely see the progression and that is important at this point. I'm proud of the team for their efforts, focus and energy over the weekend.”

Men’s Soccer (0-8-2, 0-4-2 B1G)

A tie with Michigan is about as good as it gets for the men’s soccer team. Rutgers was the preseason 4th place Big Ten squad; it has been anything but a successful season. Junior Niel Guzman scored the RU goal prior to the intermission - the game was scoreless after intermission - as the Scarlet Knights outshot the Wolverines, 23-19.

The men take on Princeton tonight at 7:00 PM at Yurcak Field.

Women’s Tennis

At the Navy Invitational, a three-day event, senior Farris Cunningham and freshman Jacqueline Cochrane won the “B” flight title, while junior Lee Levy and freshman Kyra Yap secured the “C” flight final. Seeing two first year players advance in competition s a positive sign for the squad.

“We showed improvement from our tournament at the Brown Invitational,” head coach Hilary Ritchie said. “We were especially great in doubles play. I was very pleased with how we competed.”

Wresting one more time

This one kind of struck home for me.

First, this is a verbal - a non-binding commitment. But we can hope. In 2011, Stephan Glasgow was an eighth grader. I was his coach in East Brunswick. He is a reigning state champion (not necessarily because of me) and is nationally ranked. And now he’s committing to Rutgers. I’m happy.

And one more....

If you’re in the Freehold area tonight, stop by.