The best team on campus is about to start their season. The Rutgers women’s soccer team will step onto the field on Thursday for their first game of their 2023 campaign.
When one considers the other major draws on campus, the women’s soccer squad is by far the most successful team over the last five seasons, posting an eye-popping .730 winning percentage. Compare that to their counterparts on the men’s soccer team (.480), and it isn’t even close.
Football continues its rebuild during the Schiano 2.0 era, but over the last five years, the Scarlet Knights have posted just a .250 winning percentage on the gridiron. Even the two men’s teams on campus that have shown the most improvement and consistency, baseball (.550) and men’s basketball (.551) pale in comparison.
Head coach Mike O’Neill welcomes back many talented veterans, including last year’s top seven scorers on the team. Seniors Sam Kroeger (7-5-19), Allison Lowery (7-4-18), Sara Brocious (5-7-17) and Becci Fluchel (3-4-10) are all returning, along with juniors Kylie Daigle (5-7-17), Riley Tiernan (4-6-14) and Emily Mason (3-1-7).
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Other returning players include graduate student Allison Lynch, seniors Emma Misal and Giana Romano, juniors Gia Girman and Kassidy Banks, and returning sophomores Allie Post and Naila Schoefberger. Lynch, Fluchel and Misal will serve as 2023 team captains for the squad.
The Knights will have an infusion of new blood into the fold this fall, including incoming first-year players Reilly McGlinn, Brianna Azevedo, Olivia Russomanno, Audrey Cain, Alyssa Martinez, Ashley Baran, Elliot Forney, Tehya Scheuten, Shannon Reiser, and Gabriela Gil.
Rutgers also picked up graduate student transfer Jessica Schildkraut during the off-season. Schildkraut will truly be an unknown quantity, as she had productive freshman and sophomore years at Columbia, but saw her next season cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. She then had a season lost to injury in 2021, so the Knights are hoping that the midfielder can regain her early collegiate success this year.
Also coming to Yurcak Field this fall is transfer Gia Vicari. The graduate student out of Reading, Pa. is a talented forward, having been an All-Big East First Team performer in 2020, 2021 and 2022 at Georgetown University.
But the big question, and the one that looms largest over the heads of the Scarlet Knights, is: who will be in goal this season?
With the departure of record-setting goalkeeper Meagan McClelland, the Knights have several potential replacements at backstop, and it will be up to graduate student Grace Walter, junior Cameron Kennett, and sophomore Olivia Bodmer to vie for the starting position. Both Kennett and Walter saw limited time on the pitch last season, as each appeared in only one match.
The first test for Rutgers on the 2023 slate is non-conference opponent Holy Cross, which languished through a 2-11-4 record last season. The Scarlet Knights open the season against the Crusaders on Thursday, August 17 at 7 p.m. on Yurcak Field. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Plus network.
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