Rutgers women's soccer defeats Princeton

September 5, 2022

For the season's first meeting, Rutgers Women's Soccer faced off against their New Jersey neighbor, Princeton University, and won, 3-0. Rutgers' Sam Kroeger led the home team with her first collegiate brace. Meagan McClelland held down the fort with her 38th clean sheet and a season-high five saves.

Rutgers came into the matchup with a strong 5-0 record overall. Princeton was also undefeated, but only had a record of 3-0. The Scarlet Knights came into the matchup with a strong mentality after defeating Temple a few days prior, 7-0.

Highlights

Kroeger started off with the first goal of the game. It only took 1:45 into the match for the midfielder to score. Over a minute and a half later, Kroeger scored the team's second goal of the match. Kylie Daigle had the assist for the first goal of the game. She found Kroeger in the corner of Princeton's 18-yard box, where she struck the ball one-time to find the side netting. Becci Fluchel had a free-kick opportunity to assist the second goal. She played the ball quickly to Kroeger who then shot a rocket into the back of the net making the score 2-0.

For the third goal of the game, Allison Lowrey got her fourth goal of the season. Sara Brocious played a long ball over the defense where Lowrey went one-versus-one with the keeper and finished the ball low into the net.

Never concede. Never stop. #RutgersVsEverybody /// #ForeverRutgers pic.twitter.com/Pc8mDZJZ1H

— RUTGERS WOMEN’S SOCCER (@RUWSoccer) September 4, 2022

Emily Mason, Kassidy Banks, Allison Lynch and Adriana Kuryla held down the defense. They held Princeton to only five shots on goal and 12 total shots. McClelland's five saves contributed to the defensive efforts. She had a perfectly timed tip over the bar in the 69th minute to secure the shutout.

"We always talk about the first five minutes and how it's one of the most important parts of a game, so we wanted to get a few goals to get ahead," Kroeger said. "Kylie Daigle played a perfect ball to me and I took my chance. Then Becci Fluchel had great awareness on the free kick, I saw the goalkeeper come out, and that left the backdoor open."

Compared to Princeton's five shots on target, Rutgers recorded nine shots on target and 16 overall. Rutgers is now 6-0 on the season, hoping to keep their perfect record intact.