Women’s Soccer Cruises Past FDU, 7-0

It was a battle of Knights at Yurcak field as Rutgers squared off against Fairleigh Dickinson University. The Scarlet Knights found some continuity on offense and kept the scoreboard active this evening, tallying seven goals in their 2nd win of the young season over the Farleigh Dickinson Knights. Rutgers improves to 2-1-1 while FDU drops to 0-4-0.

Rutgers had a golden opportunity in the 3rd minute as Sara Brocious took a crisp pass in stride from Becci Fluchel, who intercepted the pass and sent the ball to Brocious in one fluid motion. However, FDU keeper, senior Katie Leckonby, corralled the shot on goal. Moments later, the Scarlet Knights would find the back of the net in the 3rd minute as Riley Tiernan sent a beautiful pass down the center lane to impact transfer Gia Vicari, who struck a nice ball past Leckonby for the early Rutgers 1-0 lead. It was the 20th career assist for Tiernan, now 10th on the all-time list at Rutgers.

Vicari would tally an assist two minutes later, delivering a beautiful pass to Allison Lowrey in stride. Lowrey had only the keeper to beat and would calmly send the ball past Leckonby into the far right portion of the net for an early 2-0 lead.

In the 9th minute, Riley Tiernan would add Rutgers’s 3rd goal of the match, putting pressure on the keeper, who misplaced the ball, allowing No. 73 to gain control and easily send it into the back of the net for a 3-0 advantage. The onslaught would be halted but in the 43rd minute, impact freshman Ashley Baran, who scored 114 goals in high school, would take a precisely threaded ball from Sam Kroeger and rocket it from the left side of the box past the Knights keeper for her first college tally and a commanding 4-0 Rutgers lead heading into the half. It was a nice to see Kroeger fully healthy and back in action for the first time this season, enter the match and receive a nice round of applause from the crowd.

FDU would send in a new keeper, Marie Jakobsen, to start the 2nd half. The Scarlet Knights displayed some beautiful, unselfish ball in the 57th minute, with Vicari delivering a perfect ball to a streaking Tiernan down the left flank. The Knights were plagued all game with offsides calls as FDU’s back line would charge forward to draw the flag, and Rutgers was frequently caught out of position. However, crafty Tiernan waited patiently in front FDU’s back line and then managed to stay on sides, gathering the ball and drawing in the keeper. No. 73 would then dish to Lowrey, who easily dumped the ball into the empty net for a 5-0 lead. Lowrey almost returned the favor a couple of minutes later but FDU keeper, Jakobsen, was able to deflect Tiernan’s point-blank shot. Seconds later, Emma Misal sent a perfectly weighted ball towards the net that Lowrey headed to the opposite post for the hat trick and a 6-0 lead.

In the 88th minute, Gia Girman would find the back of the net for the Scarlet Knight’s 7th goal and that would mercifully close out the scoring. It was a nice moment for Girman, who’s had plenty of shots early in the season and was finally able to put one on net and past the keeper. Freshmen Olivia Russomanno was credited with the assist and her first points as a Scarlet Knight.

QUOTABLE

“We’ve had some games recently where we haven’t been happy with our performance. We had some long talks about playing with more heart, got it together, and pushed forward. It was a total team effort tonight and we got the result we wanted.”

Senior Allison Lowrey

NOTABLE

• Rutgers outshot FDU 20-4 and a dominant 12-1 on goal
• 9 different Scarlet Knights tallied a point

NEXT UP

Beloved rival Princeton (oozing with sarcasm). The Scarlet Knights take on the Tigers (2-0-0) on Thurs., Aug. 31 at 7 p.m., broadcast live on ESPN+.