Sam Kroger scored in the first ten minutes of the match and Emily Mason added a second with only minutes to go in the first period, giving Rutgers a 2-0 advantage after a first half dominated by the Scarlet Knights.
In old western movies, the gunslingers wear black, and it was no different with the Scarlet Knights, who came out in their black uniforms and fired precision shot after precision shot. It appeared that Rutgers came out angry, possibly from the insult of being an undefeated team and dropping six spots from No. 3 in the nation to No. 9 prior to their match with Temple.
The Knights’ first goal came when Kroger headed the ball in the goalmouth at 9:18 after a brilliantly placed corner kick from Becci Fluchel. For Kroger, it was her second goal of the season, and gave RU the early 1-0 lead. This would have been enough to win the game, but it was the beginning of an avalanche of scoring on the night.
Rutgers picked up its second goal of the match when play got scrambly in front of the Temple net once again, and after the deflections bounced like a pinball game, Mason put the ball past Temple’s goalkeeper, Kyla Burns, for a 2-0 lead.
The Knights struck again early in the second half when Kylie Daigle bent a corner kick for a rare Olimpico goal, with the ball curling just inside the far post to take a 3-0 lead at 47:42.
Rutgers nearly got a fourth goal just minutes later when Riley Tiernan found herself alone in front of the net with Temple’s goalkeeper out of position. With a yawning goal in front of her, Tiernan fired the ball over the crossbar. However, despite the miss, Rutgers did not have to wait very long for their fourth goal.
When Mason was taken down from behind by Temple’s Sumaya Togba at 48:10, Rutgers was awarded a penalty kick, which was taken by Fluchel. Even though Burns guessed correctly and dove to her left, against Fluchel’s cannon right leg it was clearly a mismatch as she collected her second goal of the season, extending the lead to 4-0.
With a commanding advantage, the Knights substituted younger players and second stringers into the match. However, Rutgers extended the lead to 5-0 when midfielder Allie Post found the back of the net on a shot that seemed to freeze Burns, who could only turn to her right to watch the ball tuck into the corner at 69:11. For the freshman from Mountainside, N.J., it was the first goal of her young career.
In contrast, graduate student Hailey Gutowski added to the lead when she fired a winding shot that was perfectly placed over Burns to give the Knights a 6-0 lead at 78:16. But, the transfer from Temple was not finished with just one goal against her former teammates.
Gutowski showed her ability to curl the ball a second time, as she picked up an assist with a cross-pitch pass to Wisconsin native Mallory McGuire, who chipped the ball in to extend the lead. The goal by the freshman midfielder would be the last of the match in the 7-0 victory.
For the Knights, it was a near perfect game, as they controlled the contest from start to finish with seven different goal scorers, racking up 34 shots, while Temple failed to get even one shot, nor one corner kick in the contest.
The Scarlet Knights will next put their perfect 5-0 record to the test when they face the Princeton Tigers on Sunday, Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. at Yurcak Field. In 2021, the Knights started the season perfect at 6-0 only to be defeated by the Tigers, 4-3, for their first loss of the year.
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