Rutgers Men's Soccer Defeats Princeton 1-0

The Rutgers men's soccer team picked up a much needed 1-0 victory on the road against in-state rival Princeton on Tuesday night. After a scoreless first half, senior midfielder Dante Perez found junior midfielder Miles Hackett on the right sideline in the 55th minute, who was able to get inside the box and with three defenders in his path and finish from six yards out for the goal.

It was a huge win for Rutgers, who were outshot in the game 19 to 5 overall and 7 to 2 with shots on goal. Junior goalkeeper Rafael Pereira made seven saves in the match and produced his second shutout of the season. He made a crucial save in the 71st minute, when Pereira came off his line and slid to stop Princeton's Gaby Paniagua from just six yards out.

"This is a very pivotal point for us to go on the road and come away with a hard fought win", said Donigan. "I was very pleased with the effort and it wasn't just because of the result. Certainly thatadded to it, but it was the way we battled, the way we fought and the way we defended. We defended for good portions of that game."

Rutgers is now 2-7-1 on the season and 0-4 in Big Ten action, but they have played the toughest schedule in men's Division I Soccer this season. They've lost to each team currently ranked in the top five in the country in this week's United Coaches Poll. The win over Princeton (1-4-2) ended a five game losing streak and comes right after the Tigers had just beaten then #21 Fairleigh Dickinson over the weekend.

The Scarlet Knights return to action this Sunday at home at 3:30 p.m. against Wisconsin (5-2-2; 2-1-0) as part of a doubleheader with the women's team, who also host the Badgers at 1 p.m. Both games will be televised live on BTN.