No. 6 Women’s Soccer Tops La Salle, 3-1

On a beautiful late summer night in Piscataway where the University debuted the new video scoreboard, Rutgers faced a tough 5-1 La Salle squad. The Knights entered the match on a roll, with impressive victories over Temple and Princeton.

La Salle kicked off the scoring in the 8th minute on a successful penalty kick by Alyssa Gargiulo, who was awarded the kick after being taken down in the box by Becci Fluchel. La Salle, unlike prior opponents, pressured Rutgers early and kept the Knights defense on their heels. Rutgers definitely appeared sluggish to start the match, as evidenced by an animated head coach Mike O’Neill on the sidelines.

In the 16th minute, the Knights began to impose their will on La Salle. Rutgers had a golden opportunity to tie as Riley Tiernan found Allison Lynch but Explorers keeper Michela Auguadro was able to make the tough save. Less than a minute later, Fluchel sent a beautiful ball to Allison Lowrey, who stayed on sides to the protests of La Salle, and notched her 5th goal of the season to knot the score up 1-1.

Less than two minutes later, Allison Lynch took a pass in space, raced towards goal and on her attempt to pass, the ball deflected off Explorers defender Lauren Costello into net for a 2-1 Rutgers advantage that would hold until halftime.

The Knights got on the board quickly in the 2nd half. In the 47th minute, Riley Tiernan sent a well placed ball to Sara Brocious at the top of the box, who found Kylie Daigle. Daigle would put the ball in the back of the net for a 3-1 Rutgers lead. Definitely worth watching the crisp footwork below.

In the 82nd minute, the Explorers finally got a shot on goal but Meagan McClelland was able to make her first save of the match with ease.

With the win, the Knights improve to 7-0-0 while La Salle drops to 5-2-2.

Of Note: The Explorers only had two shots on goal for the entire match. The Rutgers defense has now held all seven opponents to five shots on goal or less.

Next Up: The Scarlet Knights remain home to host unbeaten LSU (5-0-2) on Sun., Sept. 11 at noon at Yurcak Field. The weather forecast looks promising and the stands will hopefully be packed.