Having locked up the Big Ten title, there was no real reason for the Rutgers Women’s Soccer team (14-2 overall, 9-0 in conference) to even make much of an effort in their final regular season game. After all, the game was meaningless in the standings, and besides, game time had been pushed up a full day in order to get the match in due to weather concerns. Why risk fatigue or injury to the team’s star players just a week ahead of the start of the Big Ten Tournament?
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But that’s not what happened, because this team isn’t built that way. Rutgers came out of the chute fast, amassing 10 shots within the first 16 minutes of play. It must have seemed that the pitch was tilted towards the Illini zone, because IU defenders, trying to keep the Scarlet Knights away from freshman goalkeeper Naomi Jackson, committed three fouls less than 17 minutes into the game.
Able to withstand the initial onslaught, Illinois (5-10-1 overall, 1-7-1 in conference) settled down and finally managed to get their first shot at 19:10 of the half. But as they have done all season long, the Knights’ continuous pressure again made things difficult for their opponents. When Illinois’ defender Angie Galo received a yellow card at 32:54, the Scarlet Knights seemed to take a spark from the play. Just minutes later, Sara Brocious fed Allison Lowery with a pass, and the sophomore forward put the ball into the back of the net at 36:31 for her fifth goal of the season, giving RU a 1-0 lead. By the end of the first half, the Knights had outshot the Illini 17-7, with six of those on goal.
In the second half, the Scarlet Knights continued their dominance, in one stretch firing three shots on goal in less than three minutes. Two goals by captain Amirah Ali at 55:48 and again at 60:50 put RU into a comfortable lead, and from there the Knights defense clamped down in front of goalkeeper Meagan McClelland, who had to make a save at 67:29 to keep the match at 3-0.
In total, Rutgers tallied 30 shots in the game, with 15 of them on goal. By comparison, the Illini managed 11 shots, but of those, only one made its way through to McClelland. By the end of the match, the Scarlet Knights had notched yet another accomplishment in an already impressive 2021 season: perfection in Big-10 conference play.
Rutgers finishes the season 15-2 with an astounding 10-0 record against Big Ten opponents. On a day when the conference champs could have taken it easy and been content to look ahead to postseason play, they showed their true colors while collecting their ninth shutout of the season.
Big Ten Tournament play begins on Halloween, Sunday Oct. 31 with four opening-round quarterfinal matches taking place on the campuses of the top four seeds. If today’s game was any indication of what’s to come, Rutgers fans will have plenty to cheer about in the next few weeks.
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