Rutgers men's soccer ties with Northeastern in high-scoring, tit for tat affair
Saturday, the Rutgers men's soccer team traveled to Brookline, Massachusetts, to take on Northeastern. The Scarlet Knights (5-6-3, 3-3-1) tied with the Huskies (3-6-6, 1-3-3) by a score of 4-4 in a high-scoring contest.
Rutgers came out on the front foot, dominating possession and pushing forward in its attack.
The Knights' early pressure would pay off, as they scored the opening goal in the 27th minute. Northeastern headed away Rutgers' corner kick, but the clearance fell to junior midfielder Matthew Acosta, who shot the ball in the bottom right corner to score his 2nd goal in two consecutive games.
The Huskies would level the game in the final minute of the first half. Zach Sauer played a pass into the box to Tobias Wangerud, who finished the ball in the back of the net.
Despite the Knights' early dominance, the score was tied 1-1 at halftime.
The second half would be an offensive battle, as 6 goals would be scored between both sides. It started out much slower than the first half, though, as both sides committed more fouls and tried to dominate possession.
Rutgers would retake the lead in the 62nd minute with a goal from sophomore forward Ian Abbey. Sophomore defender Sawyer Koza crossed the ball to the back post to Abbey, who jumped acrobatically to shoot the ball in the back of the net.
Wangerud and Mathias Hille then scored for Northeastern to take its first lead of the game and make the score 3-2.
The Knights would not back down, scoring 2 goals in the final 10 minutes. Graduate student midfielder Jackson Temple dribbled past three Huskie defenders to blast a shot into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Then, junior defender Aidan Flynn played a ball over the top to senior forward Ola Maeland, who capitalized on a mistake from Gregor Shaw to slot the ball into the open net.
Rutgers could not hold on to its late lead, as the Huskies scored in the 88th minute to knot things up at 4-4. Fraser Brown received a cross into the box and headed his effort into the top right corner despite sophomore goalkeeper Ciaran Dalton getting a touch on the ball.
Shaw had a strong day between the posts for Northeastern, recording seven saves.
The Knights outshot the Huskies 15-13 but could not earn their third consecutive victory.
Rutgers will look to claim its spot in the Big Ten Tournament when it travels to take on Indiana in its home state next Sunday. Kick-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.
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