Category: Rutgers women’s soccer

Rutgers women’s soccer moves up the polls following strong weekend

Rutgers women’s soccer moves up in the latest Top Drawer Soccer rankings.

Top Drawer Soccer has the Rutgers women’s soccer team moving up in the rankings following an undefeated start to the season.

Rutgers is now fifth in the nation according to Top Drawer Soccer, up three spots from the previous poll. The Scarlet Knights had a strong weekend where they beat Temple 7-0 on Thursday night and then beat Princeton 3-0 on Sunday afternoon. Both matches were at Yurcak Field.

Despite starting the season with four wins, Rutgers dropped in the United Soccer Coaches Poll last week, going from third to eighth. Top Drawer was more consistent, with Rutgers starting the season at tenth in the nation and holding steady at No. 8 the past two weeks.

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Rutgers is 6-0 on the season. They face LaSalle on Thursday and LSU on Sunday. Both matches are home at Yurcak Field.

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The Scarlet Knights are the highest-ranked Big Ten program in the rankings with No. 12 Penn State the only other representative from the conference. Future Big Ten member UCLA is the top team this week.

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Rutgers women’s soccer remains undefeated yet somehow still falls in rankings

Rutgers women’s soccer remains undefeated but ended up falling in the latest polls.

Rutgers won this past weekend in their home opener against Buffalo. The 2-1 victory led to the Scarlet Knights fourth straight win to open the season and remain undefeated. Despite all of that, they have fallen in the latest poll.

After what was definitely the best season in program history last year, started the season ranked sixth in the nation in the preseason United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Division I Women’s Poll. Following a dominant first three contests, the women’s soccer squad reached as high as No. 3 in the poll. Despite winning again and being one of only five ranked teams with four victories and no losses, Rutgers has stumbled down the charts and settled in at No. 9 in the latest edition, released Tuesday.

So to recap. Rutgers is 4-0. Last week they were ranked third in the nation following two wins to open the season. They beat a solid Buffalo program on Sunday (the Bulls went 13-4-3 last year). And somehow, Rutgers dropped nine spots.

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Every team above them is also undefeated, but four of those teams – Penn State, BYU, TCU, and South Carolina – have a tie on their record. ACC powerhouse North Carolina clocked in at No. 1 in the ranking, a unanimous selection for consecutive weeks.

Rutgers is one of four Big Ten teams in the top 25 and one of two, alongside Penn State, to crack the top 10. The Nittany Lions finished one spot above the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers has game two of a six-game homestand scheduled for Thursday, September 1 against the Temple Owls. They should continue their hot start to the season and see a rebound in next week’s poll.

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Watch: Amirah Ali scores go-ahead goal for San Diego Wave

WATCH: Former Rutgers women’s soccer Amirah Ali scored her second career goal in the NSWL

Former Rutgers women’s soccer star, Amirah Ali, is starting to make her presence felt in the professional ranks. She has spent her 2022 season with the National Women’s Soccer League’s San Diego Wave FC.

On Sunday night, Ali scored in the 66th minute. The Wave were adding pressure in the second half of a tie game. Ali’s teammate and National Team/Olympic star Alex Morgan received a pass in the box. Morgan shot wide, but teammate Makenzy Doniak was ready and kept the ball near the net with a strong header. Ali had crashed the net and put the ball high over the keeper’s leg for her second career goal.

Amirah was originally drafted by the Portland Thorns. During the NWSL expansion draft, Ali was traded with another player in exchange for $50,000 in allocation money. Ali was the Thorns’ third-round selection in the 2021 NWSL draft and finished her senior season with Rutgers in the Women’s College Cup last season.

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Ali was a strong contributor for Rutgers in one of the most successful seasons in program history. She received numerous honors in her senior season – including 2021 College Cup All-Tournament Team, All-America Third Team, All-Region First Team, Big Ten All-Tournament Team, All-Big Ten First Team, Academic All-Big Ten, and was named 2021 Big Ten Player to Watch prior to the season’s start.

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With teammates like Alex Morgan, Ali will have plenty of opportunity to shine and continue to grow under incredible guidance. She will be worth watching closely all season long.

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Rutgers Women’s Soccer sits atop Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll

Rutgers Women’s Soccer picked to repeat as Big Ten Champions in preseason poll

The 2022 Big Ten Preseason Coaches Poll for college women’s soccer was released on Monday, and it represented a historic day in Scarlet Knight history. Rutgers women’s soccer came found themselves ranked No. 1 in the poll, marking the first time in Rutgers Athletics history a team has been picked No. 1. It also marks the first time in conference history the women’s soccer preseason poll resulted in a tie for the top spot as Rutgers tied with the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Rutgers is coming off it’s first Big Ten title in program and school history in 2021, going a perfect 10-0 in-conference during the regular season and finishing 19-4-2 overall. Last season, the Scarlet Knights finished ranked No. 3 in the collegiate poll – their highest ranking in school history. The women’s soccer powerhouse made it to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament.

Additionally – graduate student goalkeeper Meagan McClelland, junior midfielder Sara Brocious, and sophomore forward Riley Tiernan were honored as 2022 Big Ten Women’s Soccer Players to Watch.

McClelland earned All-Big Ten Third Team and All-Region Third Team honors in 2021. The goalkeeper recorded 13 shutouts and 83 saves on the year. She maintained a 0.67 GAA in net, helping the Scarlet Knights extend its streak to eight straight seasons registering a GAA of 0.77 or less.

Brocious was a force throughout the College Cup, tallying four goals and six assists. She showed a penchant for coming up big in clutch situations. The junior provided an assist in the 2-2 overtime win over Arkansas in the NCAA quarterfinals, and scored the game-winning goal in the 1-0 victory to clinch the Big Ten title.

Tiernan was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, the ECAC Rookie of the Year, and a United Soccer Coaches All-Region First Team selection in 2021. She recorded 29 points on eight goals and a team-high 13 assists – a new program record for a season.

Last season was one of the best in the history of the program, and the team is bringing back plenty of players from last year. The Scarlet Knights will look to make a third trip to the College Cup in program history.