No. 23 Men's Soccer Defeats No. 25 UCLA to Advance to Big Ten Semifinals
By Google News Sports ·
No. 23 Men's Soccer Defeats No. 25 UCLA to Advance to Big Ten Semifinals
SEATTLE â No. 23 Rutgers men's soccer (9-6-2) defeated No. 25 UCLA (9-4-5), 2-0, on Sunday afternoon in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals at Husky Soccer Stadium. The third-seeded Scarlet Knights scored once in each half to defeat the sixth-seeded Bruins and advance to the conference semifinals against No. 6 Washington Wednesday night.Â
Joshua Jerome and Matty Lynch each scored their second goals of the season, while Rafael Ponce De Leon made five saves to earn the shutout. Erick Ruiz, Amer Lukovic and Francesco Di Ponzio each recorded an assist in the victory.
UCLA created several early opportunities, but Ponce De Leon kept the Bruins off the scoreboard with saves in the 10th and 13th minutes.
Rutgers broke through in the 33rd minute when Jerome found the back of the net to give the Scarlet Knights a 1-0 advantage. After a long ball into the box was won by Lukovic, he found Ruiz who then perfectly teed up Jerome to fire it home from outside the box, placing it in the bottom-right corner.Â
Joshua Jerome with a belter to put us ahead! ððð https://t.co/uuisytboAr
The Scarlet Knights maintained their one-goal lead heading into halftime.Â
Rutgers doubled its lead less than three minutes into the second half as Lynch scored in the 48th minute to make it 2-0. Di Ponzio battled to win possession inside UCLA's half and quickly found Lynch up the right side. While holding off a Bruin defender, Lynch calmly tucked it past the keeper to double the RU advantage.Â
Matty Lynch tucks it home after the turnover and our lead is 2-0!!! https://t.co/teoD5GCzDa
The Scarlet Knights continued to create opportunities, with Di Ponzio and Lynch each putting additional shots on target in the opening 10 minutes of the half.
UCLA pushed to get on the scoreboard late, but Ponce De Leon made saves in the 82nd and 87th minutes to preserve the shutout and secure Rutgers' spot in the semifinals.
Up Next No. 3 seed Rutgers will face No. 2 seed and sixth-ranked Washington in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 9 p.m. ET at Husky Soccer Stadium. The match will be televised on Big Ten Network. Â
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GOAL by RUT Jerome, Joshua Assist by Ruiz, Erick and Lukovic, Amer.
GOAL by RUT Lynch, Matty Assist by Di Ponzio, Francesco.
Originally published by Google News Sports
