No. 9 Rutgers Women’s Soccer Overpowers Temple 7-0

On a beautiful first day of September at Yurcak Field under a cloudless evening sky, the No. 9 Scarlet Knights matched up against their Philly neighbors to the south, the Temple Owls. Not quite sure how the Knights fell from No. 3 to No. 9 in the polls without losing last week but this was a point of contention throughout the broadcast from the perplexed Big Ten announcers

1st Half Action

Nine minutes into the match, high-energy fan favorite Sam Kroeger opened the scoring with a powerful header in front of net off a well-placed corner by Becci Fluchel. Temple would fend off countless Rutgers attacks over the next thirty minutes. Then, on their sixth corner of the match with less than three minutes left in the half, Emily Mason was able to redirect teammate Allie Post’s shot into the net for a 2-0 RU lead.

The Knights outshot Temple 14-0 in the first half and had 6 corners while Temple had none. Temple keeper Kyla Burns hauled in 5 saves to keep the Owls within striking distance.

2nd Half Action

Kylie Daigle would open the 2nd half scoring with the rare Olimpico that found net. Definitely worth a watch.

In the 55th minute Becci Fluchel, always cool, calm, and collected on penalty kicks, knocked another one home for a 4-0 RU lead. Fluchel is now a perfect 4-4 on penalties in her career.

In the 70th minute, freshman Allie Post snuck one just inside the left post on a beautifully placed strike for her first career goal. Post is a player to keep our eyes on as the season progresses.

Hailey Gutowski, the former Owl, struck a beautiful ball in the 78th minute to put the Knights up 6-0. Freshman Mallory McGuire closed out the scoring on a beautiful placed strike for her first career goal, off an assist by Gutowski, as Rutgers cruised to a 7-nil victory.

Rutgers dominated the match, outshooting Temple 32-0, with 19 of those shots being on goal. The Scarlet Knights start 5-0-0 for the first time since 2019 and have outscored opponents 18-2. The Owls drop to 0-2-2.

Quotable:

“It came up in practice that it’s something I’ve done before and can try to do again. I said at practice I think I can whip it in back post. My coaches said, ‘That’s interesting, maybe you should try it.’ So before the corner, my coach said, ‘Just like we practiced!’ I tried it, and it went in.” (Courtesy Rutgers Athletics)

Kylie Daigle

Next Up: The Scarlet Knights remain home at Yurcak to host Princeton on Sun., Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. at Yurcak Field and look to avenge a 4-3 loss last season.