The Rutgers women's soccer team is preparing to face #1 Florida State (FSU) in the NCAA Tournament's College Cup semi-finals and earlier this week three Scarlet Knights were named All-Americans, making it the first time in program history the team has had three All-Americans in a single season.
Broadcast Information: Friday, Dec. 3 at 7:00 PM on ESPN U
On Friday Nov. 26, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights defeated seventh-ranked Arkansas in a penalty shootout and advanced to their second College Cup semi-final since the 2015 team led by current head coach Mike O'Neill made the Final Four for the first time in the Rutgers' women's soccer team's 37-year history.
The 2021 NCAA season has been a historic one for the Rutgers women's soccer team. 'RU,' as they are called in short, took home the first Big Ten title that any Rutgers University athletic team has ever won. A Scarlet Knight squad made up of 23 New Jerseyans, two Staten Islanders, one Pennsylvanian and one Englishwoman was able to break records for total wins, being the first team to go undefeated in conference play and going on a 13-game winning streak from Sept. 16 to Nov.7. The one shortcoming this team had was losing the Big Ten Tournament Champ. game to Michigan, who are ranked fifth according to NCAA's RPI rankings and who Rutgers's opponent tonight knocked out in Overtime in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.
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β½Semifinals: #RUWS vs. Florida State
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π°https://t.co/z8TmqTdzkZ pic.twitter.com/9RAVao30tz— RUWS | BIG TEN CHAMPIONS (@RUWSoccer) December 3, 2021
On Nov. 30, it was announced on the Scarlet Knights website that the Rutgers University women' soccer (RUWS) coaching staff had been named the 2021 North Region "Staff of the Year".
Throughout Rutgers's tournament run, one of their most dangerous offensive players has been senior All-Big Ten first team forward, Amirah Ali . The native of Voorhees in Delaware County has scored three goals and one assist, including the tying goal that sent the Elite Eight game to Overtime and allowed the 3-2 win to happen. Her twelve goals to date leads the team and Ali was recently selected 22nd overall in the 2021 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Draft. The only player who has done more offensively for the Scarlet Knights at this year's NCAA tourney is...that's right a freshman from Ali's hometown named Riley Tiernan.
Frankie Tagliaferri led the Scarlet Knights in assists and points during the regular season. She was named the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, while her teammate Gabby Provenzano was able to win Big Ten Defender of the Year and Riley Tiernan, Freshman of the Year. However, during this fierce playoff run, Tagliaferri has scored just a goal and an assist. Taking nothing away from Tagliaferri's season, but she has been outproduced by Tiernan and Ali, possibly because they are forwards and she is a midfielder.
On Dec. 1 it was announced that three Scarlet Knights (Tagliaferri, Provenzano and Ali) had been named All-Americans. For Amirah Ali this meant she had accomplished something truly extraordinary. The Camden-County girl who graduated from Eastern High School has become the program's first four-time All-American-- a feat that even three-time All-American and Women's soccer legend Carli Lloyd was not able to accomplish as a four-year starter from 2001-04.
Meet the Coaching Staff
According to the team's coaching staff webpage, current head coach Mike O'Neill's first experience as a college soccer coach was as the associate head coach for Rutgers women's team from 2004-13. O'Neill was also a good college soccer player himself, having played on Seton Hall University's men's soccer teams that won Big EAST Championships in 1987 and 1988.
In 2013, O'Neill was named Northeast Conference's Associate Coach of the Year. The following year, he took over as head coach of the Rutgers' women's soccer team for Glenn Crooks who he had been associate head coach for, for ten seasons. He brought along former team Captain from 2005-07, Meghan Ryan Nemzer as his associate head coach, who is now in her eigth season as the second-highest ranking coach on O'Neill's staff.
O'Neill's second year in charge was a historic one, as the Scarlet Knights were able to reach the NCAA College Cup semi-finals for the first time in program history.
β½οΈ College Cup Semifinals
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πΊ ESPNU#RUWS X #28Strong pic.twitter.com/tmRMnGdhn3— RUWS | BIG TEN CHAMPIONS (@RUWSoccer) December 3, 2021
The 2021 season has been the O'Neill's eighth in charge and, starting with the 2012 season, Rutgers has made ten straight NCAA Tournament appearances as well as five straight as a top-four seed in the tournament. The whole staff deserve credit for this, but because Nemzer and O'Neill have been together for eight seasons they will be recognized for the fact that eight MAC Herrman Trophy candidates and 10 United Soccer Coaches' All-American honorees have come from Rutgers while they have coached.
The Rutgers women's soccer team's achievements this year include winning their school's first Big Ten title, becoming the first team to go undefeated in conference-play, coaching five players who made the All-Region first team, and so far, making it to Final Four for the second time in 37 years. Yet, the success of the coaching staff has not been limited to on-field-performance as "98 student athletes have earned Academic All-Big Ten laurels in the last seven seasons."
Rutgers has Scoring Depth
Five Scarlet Knights made the NCAA's All-North Region team, which included seniors Amirah Ali, Meagan McClelland, Gabby Provenzano, and Frankie Tagliaferri as well as Freshman Riley Tiernan. Provenzano and Tagliaferri have also been named MAC Herrman Trophy semi-finalists, while three standouts, Ali, Provenzano, and Tagliaferri were named All-Americans. As if there could be any more firsts, this marks the first time in program history that three RUWS players were named All-Americans in a single season.
However, this Scarlet Knights team doesn't only rely on it's top scorers to win-- they also have benefitted from the depth their team has during this historic NCAA Tourney-run. Its hard to call sophomore midfielder, Sarah Brocious. a role player but on a team with two players who rank top-ten in NCAA goal scoring, she has been a great midfield cog in this RU machine. The 19-year-old from Voorhees, New Jersey finished fifth in points (16) behind three Big Ten first teamers and teammate Allison Lowrey who had one more goal than Brocious. Both have been consistent box-to-box midfielders along with Samantha Kroeger, who is sixth on the team with 14 points.
FSU Matches Rutgers Blow for Blow
The top-seeded Scarlet Knights's fourth-round win over seventh-seed Arkansas was harder than Mike O'Neill's team envisioned. Freshman phenom Riley Tiernan scored the quickest goal of the year, a smooth left-footed strike from outside the box and the match looked like it would be smooth-sailing for the Scarlet Knights, but their defense conceded two quick goals that put them behind the eight-ball early at home.
The play of the freshman, Tiernan has been remarkable this season. The fast forward who's good with both feet has four goals and two assists during the 2021 NCAA tournament. In fact, Rutgers's leading scorers on this playoff run are from the same town-- Voorhees in South Jersey and Amirah Ali is second with three goals and an assist this tournament. In fact, Ali also scored a goal with her left-foot from just inside the box that tied Rutgers's fourth-round scare and sent the game to extra time. Both Ali and Tiernan led the Rutgers attack in overtime and nearly ended it there.
Nevertheless, Florida State are no slouches and the maroon and gold have been number-one in the RPI standings seemingly the whole season. In terms of individual accolades, the Seminoles match Rutgers's three All-Americans with three of their own: Holding Midfielder Jaelin Howell (ACC Midfielder of the Year), Center-back Emily Madril and attacking Midfielder Yujie Zhao.
According to Florida State's website, 2021 is the 13th time in program history that they have had "multiple All-Americans" in a single season. FSU also had the best player in the country at the center-back, holding mid, and winger positions all year, but Rutgers's Tagliaferri and Provenzano, a midfielder and center-back are just as good.
During the 2021 regular season, Florida State had the fifth-best goals-for-average and sixth-best goals-allowed-average in NCAA Division one women's soccer this season. Rutgers comes in at tenth in goals-for.
Rutgers fell to Michigan 1-0 in the Big Ten Championship game on Nov. 7 who Florida State were able to defeat 1-0 in overtime of their last game, an Elite Eight showdown.
Florida State's top goalscorer during the 2021 season was Swedish forward, Beata Olsson . As she did 14 times during the regular season, Olsson finished, but this time it was a golden goal that sent her team onto the College Cup semis for the second time in the last three seasons.
Comparing offenses, Rutgers has three who scored over ten goals in all competitions; Ali, Tiernan, and Tagliaferri, while Olsson is the only Seminole who has scored (14) ten during the regular season. FSU's last two NCAA tournament games they have won 1-0, while Rutgers won its last game 3-2 with penalties. However, 'RU' has played two straight games that went to a penalty shootout, which may either make them prepared for a long match or weary of extra time.
Rutgers's goalkeeper Meagan McClelland seems to be one of the team's biggest vocal leaders, which goalkeepers usually are as they have eyes on the entire field at all times. The Kearny-Native was given All-Big Ten Second Team honors for playing the second-most minutes among goalkeepers and earning 11 clean sheets, including the first and second round matches of the NCAA Tournament.
A couple of days before the Scarlet Knights landed in Santa Clara-- where the semi-final will take place, their goalkeeper, Meagan McClelland described why it means a great deal to the team that they are representing the Garden State on the National stage.
Being able to represent New Jersey in the Final Four is an awesome feeling and a great opportunity for our team. We always talk about Jersey pride, Jersey grit. A lot of people look at it as they're all local, but we think of it as we're all home.
The native of Kearny, New Jersey went on to describe how the team has bonded over the course of the 25-games they have played in conference play, tournaments and now the NCAA Tournament and why she believes the Rutgers women's soccer team is ready to make waves in Southern California.
We're home here with our family. Even though most of our team is from Jersey, our out-of-staters come in and they bring their adversity [from] their other states to us. They add to the program and then we show [them] what jersey is like... We have the best fan base in the country, and we can't wait to go out to California representing the state, bringing all that pride and grit with us. - Meagan McClelland
The Big Ten Champion Scarlet Knights are a team that is built on sheer goal-scoring might and six reliable defensive midfielders and defenders like sophomore midfielder/defender Becci Fluchel or junior defender Allison Lynch, whose names may not make it onto the scoresheet every night, but whose impact is just as vital to the team's success as Amirah Ali.
One of those players who has been visible during this playoff run but is not in the limelight is senior center-back Gabby Provenzano The Hunterdon County-native earned All-BIG Ten and All-North Region first team honors in addition to being named BIG TEN Defender of the Year. As one of the eldest on the team, the charismatic defender was able to reflect on what reaching College Cup semi-finals for the second time in program history means to her and the entire team who desire to make it further than their predecessors.
The 2015 team left an amazing foundation and one that every team I've been a part of here at Rutgers has wanted to chase and reach. To be able to now get the opportunity to do what they've done and to do what we've heard about, it's an amazing experience. It's incredible. They've set the bar so high, and that's what we say every year is to raise the standard and make it a new one. So that's our hopes going into California
- Gabby Provenzano
The Lady Knights will need to bring their "A game" to defeat the top-ranked FSU Seminoles on Friday, but one advantage this team can hang their hats on, it is their character. Rutgers grit and skill to come-from-behind to tie their Elite Eight match and then mental toughness to survive two periods of extra time unscathed and advance past Arkansas on penalties.
Florida State is best team in the country according to the NCAA RPI ranking. The team stats of goals-for-average and goals-against-average also rank FSU higher than Rutgers but as a wise person once said, 'in the playoffs, all those stats go out the window. Rutgers are chasing a dream, a dream of bringing New Jersey's state college pride and reaching the first College Cup final in the history of Rutgers women's soccer. For FSU, this game means something but maybe not as much since their program just won a National Championship in 2018. While FSU are the favorites, Rutgers have just as much talent and perhaps a more powerful dream to fulfill and we will see how it all unfolds in Santa Clara on Friday night.
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