Photo by Michael J. Franco

Rutgers women's soccer picks up statement win over Temple

Rutgers women's soccer continued their winning ways on Thursday at home as they beat Temple 7-0 to improve to 5-0 on the season. Many players made contributions without one of the best players in the Big Ten, Riley Tiernan, scoring a goal as it showed how good this team could be the whole season. The latest women's coaches soccer ranking dropped the Scarlet Knights 3 in the country to 9 in the country heading into this game, but Rutgers proved them wrong by putting on a dominant performance against Temple.

Rutgers goalies Meagan McClelland and Grace Walter had a fantastic game putting up a clean sheet. McClelland came back for this season, which is huge for them as she is one of the underrated goalkeepers in the nation. The Scarlet Knights' defense is elite this year as they can get to each spot and know where the opposing teams will go on the field.

Sam Kroeger, Becci Fluchel, Kylie Daigle, Emily Mason, Mallory McGuire, Allie Post and Hailey Gutowski scored goals for Rutgers. They were locked in from the beginning of the game and never took their foot off the gas looking throughout. At the 9:18 mark, Sam Kroeger scored her second goal of the season, assisted by Becci Fluchel, making it 1-0.

Emily Mason scored her first goal of the season at the 42:42 mark to make it 2-0. Then at 47:42, Kylie Daigle had a SportsCenter Top 10 worthy play scoring an Olimpico goal off the corner for a 3-0 lead. Becci Fluchel scored her first goal of the season at 48:10, extending the advantage to 4-0.

Allie Post picked up her first career goal for Rutgers, coming with 69:11 on the clock as Giana Romano picked up the assist to make the score 5-0. Hailey Gutowski and Mallory McGuire scored the final two goals for Rutgers, who put up their most goals in a match since 2017.

Rutgers was scoring goals rapidly as Temple's defense couldn't keep up with the up-tempo offense. This game will give the players confidence for the season. Head coach Mike O'Neill has a deep roster to work with regarding substitutions during the game, as he has them clicking on all cylinders right now.

This team is still young, even at 5-0, which is impressive. Rutgers women's soccer is set for now and the future. Players want to come here to help win a championship for this team.