'We have a lot of guys that can score goals': Rutgers men's soccer is looking to bounce back in 2024
The 2023 season was underwhelming for the Rutgers men’s soccer team. Fresh off their first Big Ten Championship in program history, the Scarlet Knights picked up just three conference wins, lost eight games and were eliminated in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.
This season, head coach Jim McElderry wants to make Rutgers a top team again in the Big Ten and earn another trip to the NCAA Tournament. It won’t be easy, though, as the Knights lost 13 players in the offseason. Two of those 13 departed players were Matt Acosta and Jackson Temple.
Acosta, who transferred to UNC, was the only player to start every game last season. He was the team’s central midfielder, scoring 3 goals and providing three assists. Temple, who graduated, led the team with 6 goals and was often the focus of the attack, making runs in behind and creating chances.
“I think for us it’s not only looking to replace those guys (Acosta and Temple) with the exact same player, it’s kind of impossible to do that,” McElderry said. “We always want to play a style that we feel we have the ball more than the other team. That’s always the goal for us, so can we get players that have those type of skill sets.”
Rutgers didn’t add any transfers this summer but did bring in 11 freshmen, turning out to be a diverse recruiting class, with three players coming from overseas. Freshman defender Arnar Adalsteinsson and freshman midfielder Kristófer Arnarsson come from Iceland, while freshman defender Scott Godden hails from Leeds, England.
The Knights do have some talented players returning, including junior forward Ian Abbey, senior midfielder Curt Calov and junior midfielder Cole Cruthers, who is 1 of the 3 team captains. Abbey and Calov combined for 6 goals last season, while Cruthers started 14 games and had 1 goal.
“(Calov)’s vitally important to our team on and off the field,” McElderry said. “He’s somebody who we have high expectations for and I think he’s probably in the best kind of physical, mental condition that he’s been in heading into the season. He’s healthy and I think he’ll have a great season for us.
McElderry also spoke of Abbey, saying that he could possibly play the same role as Temple once did.
“I think (Abbey’s) a guy that’ll be on a lot,” he said. “I think he’s hungry to kinda go from scoring four goals a season to scoring eight goals a season, that’s kinda the goal for him.”
Last season, Rutgers scored 24 goals, the fourth-most in the conference. There wasn’t one player scoring most of the goals, but it was spread out throughout the whole team, which McElderry believes will be the same this season.
“We’re probably gonna have a handful of guys scoring some goals as opposed to years ago having one player score 14 goals, I just don’t think that’s the way our teams made up,” he said. “We have a lot of guys that can score goals.”
As for the defense, the Knights conceded a conference-high 33 goals. This could be attributed to the young backline, with sophomore defenders Nick Collins, Erick Ruiz and Devon Stopek all starting in just their first season on the Banks. Led by senior defender Joey Zalinsky, the defense has improved with time and will likely be the same core four this season.
Junior goalkeeper Ciaran Dalton is expected to resume his role as the starter between the posts. The Pearl River, New York, native had a 63 percent save percentage last season and owned a 2.21 goals against average.
“It’s been a good year for Ciaran,” McElderry said. “We’ve asked him to kind of push it and more even just physically. He’s always been a really good goalkeeper, technically, and I would say somebody who plays his best in big games … He’s kind of in the best physical condition he’s been in since coming here to Rutgers.”
Rutgers will start the 2024 season at home on Thursday against Northeastern. The game will kick off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
“I expect some new faces to make an impact for us, but I also expect some of our returning players to take that next step,” McElderry said.
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