Rutgers Athletics 2022 year in review: Several teams rise up
The year 2022 brought many highs and celebrations to Rutgers Athletics. The department saw many teams rise up and collect numerous wins, high finishes, and even championships.
Since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014, the Scarlet Knights have improved on and off the playing surface, and the last year was no exception.
As the year comes to close soon, TKR takes a look back at 2022 for Rutgers Athletics.
BASEBALL: Steven Owens' club had its best season in a long time. Rutgers posted 44 wins and reached the Big Ten Tournament championship as the No. 2 seed. It went 17-7 in league play during the regular season. It was snubbed out of the NCAA Tournament, but it has three All-Americans in Ryan Lasko, Nick Cimillo, and Dan DiGeorgio. Rutgers looks to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 next spring.
MEN'S BASKETBALL: The Scarlet Knights made the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22 for the second-straight season and could be back dancing next March if all goes well. Rutgers finished in fourth place in the Big Ten last season -- its highest finish ever -- and saw Ron Harper Jr. sign a two-way contract with the NBA's Toronto Raptors. Sellouts at Jersey Mike's Arena have become normal under Steve Pikiell the last couple of years.
CROSS COUNTRY: Cross country at Rutgers has struggled, but Matthew Jelley just wrapped up his first season "On the Banks" and is looking to ignite the program. This past fall, the women's team finished in 12th place in the Big Ten while the men took 14th. Both the men or women have either finished in last or close the bottom every year so far, but there's hope as young standout runners return especially on the women's side.
FOOTBALL: It's fair to say the Big Ten won't ever respect Rutgers until it wins in football. Well maybe not because Adam Korsak won the Ray Guy Award as the nation's top punter yet he was named Second Team and Third Team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media. Either way, Greg Schiano just finished year No. 3 of his rebuild as Rutgers went 4-8. The Scarlet Knights got out to a great start at 3-0 in non-conference action, but then the grind of the Big Ten and injuries took over. Finding an offensive coordinator to provide a pulse on that side of the ball is critical to help complete a squad that has a tough defense. Schiano's team must show progress in 2023.
GOLF: Chris Gotterup became a hot name at Rutgers. Now he's playing professionally. The women's team placed 11th last season as a team at the Big Ten Championship for its best finish yet. Rikke Nordvic tied for 17th. Over the years, the women's team has improved its scoring averages. The men also took 11th as a team this past spring at the Big Ten Championship, and Xavier Marcoux led the way by taking 17th. He shot a hole in one in Round 1. Both Nordic and Marcoux are expected back. Marcoux won the Old Town Club Collegiate in September.
MEN'S LACROSSE: Coach Brian Brecht's crew has been one of the more consistently good men's teams at Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have made the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons. Last May, it made it all the way to the Final Four for the first time and became the first men's team in any sport to accomplish the feat since 1994. In 2022, mlax recorded a program-best 15 wins and went 4-1 in conference play only losing to Maryland, which went on to win the league and the national title. Rutgers also played in that Big Ten Tournament championship game and earned six ranked wins. The Scarlet Knights were honored with seven All-Americans and seven All-Big Ten selections. A slew of individual records and top Big Ten marks were recorded, too.
MEN'S SOCCER: Rutgers shocked the college soccer world by winning the Big Ten Tournament title. Eight players earned All-Big Ten accolades including MD Myers, who was the unanimous Big Ten Player of the Year. Rutgers went 10-5-6 overall and 4-2-2 in league play and notched a ranked victory over Ohio State. It bested Indiana in the Big Ten championship. The Hoosiers played in the national championship game. Rutgers played in the NCAA Tournament in its initial appearance since 2015.
TRACK AND FIELD: On the men's side, A'Nan Bridgett won long jump gold at the Big Ten Championships, and so did Joshua Mather in the javelin, and Chloe Timberg in the pole vault. The men placed 11th (out of 11 teams) and tied for 10th (out of 13) at the indoor and outdoors Big Ten Championships. Rutgers has had success in field events the last few seasons, and the Scarlet Knights look to make noise again in track events since Corey Crawford and Izaiah Brown earlier in Rutgers Big Ten tenure.
WRESTLING: Coach Scott Goodale's team has continued to pump out solid team after solid team. In the 2022-23 season so far, Rutgers is ranked No. 17 in the country and it just defeated in-state rival Princeton and is 6-1 overall. Last winter, Rutgers had its most podium finishers at the Big Ten Championships with five and it secured seven national tournament qualifiers. Sebastian Rivera finished in third place at 141 pounds and he and Greg Bulsak (197) each grappled their way to All-American status. The team signed a Top 10 signing class that is now on campus and also brought in a standout transfer from nearby South Plainfield in Joe Heilmann who is 11-1 overall this year.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Legendary icon C. Vivian stringer didn't coach in 2021-22, and now Coquese Washington is tasked in rebuilding Rutgers. Right now the team is battling, but faces tough challenges every game with only eight players on the roster. Washington has put together a good staff and arrow is likely pointing back up though it will take time. Last year, Rutgers went 11-20, though it did win its first game at the Big Ten Tournament.
FIELD HOCKEY: Rutgers field hockey has been one of the most recent rising teams at the university. It won the Big Ten Tournament in 2021 and earned the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. This past fall, Rutgers was ranked and reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. Puck Winter was the freshman of the year in the league and the team had three other honorees by the conference. Rutgers went 8-10 with 13 games coming against ranked foes.
GYMNASTICS: Rutgers received votes in the WCGA Top 36 preseason poll heading into the 2022-23 season. The Scarlet Knights rose to No. 24 in the country in February for its first ranking since 2014. Belle Huang (beam, floor), Hannah Joyner (all-around), and Emily Leese (vault) were NCAA Regional qualifiers last winter, and RU had its highest score at the Big Ten Championships with a 195.750. Rutgers signed the No. 15 recruiting class in the country heading into 2023.
WOMEN'S LACROSSE: Melissa Lehman's team has back two-straight NCAA Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2022. Rutgers posted its first winning Big Ten record in 2022 at 4-2 and placed third in the standings. The Scarlet Knights won a program-best 16 games and recorded its highest ranked win over No. 4 Northwestern in the Big Ten semifinals. Cassidy Spillis was the Big Ten Junior of the Year, and Lehman was the Coach of the Year in the conference. Women's lacrosse has been on a steady climb.
ROWING: This year, Rutgers won its first Big Ten gold medal as the 2nd Novice 8 boat took first. Rutgers, which earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships, placed third as a team at the Big Ten Championships, setting a new program record with six medal-winning performances. Rutgers took 13th at the NCAA Championships in May and has made three trips in a row.
WOMEN'S SOCCER: After a blazing start, the women's soccer had a disappointing finish to the 2022 fall season by not winning a match at both the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. Still, they made NCAAs for the 10th season in a row, Emily Mason was named an All-American, four players were named to All-Region teams, and six earned All-Big Ten accolades. Mike O'Neill's team has been the top and most consistent program over the last decade and there is no stopping now.
SOFTBALL: The softball team has struggled and wins have been hard to come by. Last spring, Rutgers went 3-17 in Big Ten play and took 13th in the conference. Rutgers started out 21-10, but ended up 25-30 overall. The Scarlet Knights did however play in the National Invitational Softball Championship.
SWIMMING AND DIVING: Last season, Rutgers recorded its best finish since joining the Big Ten as a team (eighth), and finished in 26th at the NCAA Championships, its highest since 2006. Rutgers had 10 podium finishes at Big Tens, seven new program records were set, and 28 times/scores reached top 10 status all-time. This fall, swimming and diving also set two new school records at the Hawkeye Challenge.
TENNIS: Rutgers women's tennis has had one of the roughest goes of it in Big Ten play going winless in five of its eight years since joining the league. Last spring season was one of those years, and it went 5-18 overall, but the team did just sign four-star Naomi Karki of East Brunswick. Karki was an All-State pick in 2019 and 2021, the two years she played high school tennis. (For those of you who don't know, TKR's Chris Nalwasky covers HS tennis for NJ.com).
VOLLEYBALL: The Big Ten is really good at a lot of sports. In women's volleyball, it is great. It has almost been unfair to Rutgers going up against national powerhouses almost every weekend. Nonetheless, Rutgers has improved in recent years even though the results might not directly show it under new coach Caitlin Schweihofer, who took over in 2020. This past fall, Rutgers went 8-24 overall and 2-18 in B1G play.
Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.
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