10/31/2021 other sports Edit

Rutgers Women's Soccer opens Big Ten Tournament with 1-0 victory

Mark Bator

Rutgers.Rivals.com

Even though a team finishes the season undefeated in conference play and 15-2-0 overall, nothing should ever be taken for granted when it’s the No. 1 seed. Wisconsin, this year’s No. 8 seed, struggled down the home stretch of their schedule and didn’t even qualify for Big Ten Tournament play until the last day of the season.

On paper, this should have been a cakewalk for a team ranked No. 6 nationally, but as they say, games aren’t played on paper. In the end, Rutgers was able to survive, but Halloween proved to be scary for the Scarlet Knights.

Dressed in their home white uniforms, Rutgers—who has outscored Big Ten opponents 23-6 this season—came out quickly on the offensive. Fed by Frankie Tagliaferri, forward Amirah Ali cut in on goal and put a left-footed shot on net within the first ninety seconds of the match, followed by an excellent save by Wisconsin goalkeeper Jordyn Bloomer. Shortly thereafter, freshman Riley Tiernan broke in on net after a giveaway in the box, forcing a point-blank smother by Bloomer off the foot of the Knights forward.

In fact, it was the fifth-year goalkeeper who kept the Badgers in the game through the early going until her teammates could settle down and adjust to the speed of the Scarlet Knights’ attack. But as every other Big Ten opponent has learned this season, the Rutgers offense is difficult to contain forever.

When Tagliaferri again broke down the left side of the pitch, the senior sent a crossing pass to midfielder Sara Brocious, who deflected it on net, with Bloomer making yet another super save. But, when the Wisconsin goalie could not control the rebound, it afforded Brocious a second chance, and the sophomore put the ball past Bloomer’s left with 12:06 remaining to give Rutgers the 1-0 first-half lead.

In the second half, early pressure from Rutgers was again withstood by Wisconsin, and the visitors soon turned the tide of play in their favor. The Badgers appeared to be living in the Rutgers end of the pitch, consistently beating the Knights to every loose ball.

But Rutgers has a more-than-capable goalkeeper themselves, and it was senior Meagan McClelland who made key saves to preserve the lead. The biggest saves occurred with 19:06 and 16:28 remaining, when the Kearny, New Jersey native made two tremendous saves to keep the Knights in front. The game got extremely physical, with hard collisions sending players to the grass as the Badgers continued to get the better of play in the second half.

This is the time when the Knights defense needed to fight through their exhaustion to answer Wisconsin’s relentless pressure. With the clock winding down, the Knights were content to play keep away, looking to prevent the ball from coming out of Wisconsin’s end. The strategy worked, and as they have done nine times previously this season, the Knights defense found a way to choke the life out of their opponent’s attack to post another hard-earned zero on the scoreboard as time expired.

With the win, Rutgers advances to the semi-finals of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday, Nov. 4 for a rematch with fifth-seeded Iowa. Rutgers won the October 10 match against the Hawkeyes 1-0 in a game played at Yurcak Field. Should they continue to advance, the top-seeded Scarlet Knights would have home field throughout the Tournament.