'It will be a very challenging game for us': Rutgers men's soccer to begin Big Ten play against Indiana
After two straight losses, it won't get any easier for the Rutgers men's soccer team, who await a clash with Indiana. The Scarlet Knights (3-3, 0-0-0) will begin Big Ten play on Friday against the Hoosiers (1-2-2, 0-0-0), a familiar opponent in recent years.
In November 2022, Rutgers defeated Indiana 3-1 to earn its first Big Ten Championship. In the final game of the 2023 season, the Hoosiers avenged the aforementioned loss with a 4-1 win against the Knights to clinch a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
This time around, both sides will be looking to put their less-than-ideal non-conference form behind them and start Big Ten play with a win.
Rutgers ended its early-season non-conference slate with a 3-3 record and is currently on a two-game losing streak. The Knights also had a defender receive a red card in their last four games but were able to win two of those matches.
"It's really been a crazy start to the season," said head coach Jim McElderry. "I think we've been a little unfortunate, but also learned a lot about our group in positive ways in terms of it's a resilient group … I really think we've got the makings of a really good team, it's just we've gotta be a little bit better in a couple of moments."
Senior midfielder Curt Calov leads Rutgers with 4 goals this season, already surpassing last year's tally of 3. All 4 of Calov's goals have come in the first 8 minutes of play.
"I think he's had a great start to the season," McElderry said on Calov. "I think he's come out and done a lot of things we've asked him to do, he's tried to play on both sides of the ball … But also, I think one of his best assets is passing the ball, so I think you'll see him be involved in setting up goals not only just scoring goals."
Despite the Knights' recent struggles, Indiana is in a similar spot.
After winning the Big Ten Tournament last season and making a run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers have looked like a completely different team to begin this season.
Indiana has picked up just one win thus far and suffered upsets to Saint Louis and Dayton. The Hoosiers lost key players from last year's squad, such as Maouloune Goumballe and Hugo Bacharach, but brought back last season's leading goal scorer, Samuel Sarver.
Sarver has yet to score this season. Instead, Tommy Mihalic has been at the forefront of the offense. Named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after scoring 3 goals in two games, Mihalic is someone Rutgers must look out for on Friday.
"Their season has been a little similar to us, it's been kind of a little bit of up and down these first couple of games." McElderry said on Indiana. "I think we'll both be entering this game thinking, 'hey, this is an opportunity for us to get back to winning ways' … The expectation is that they're gonna be very good and very difficult to play against."
The blackout game will kick off at 7 p.m. on Friday at Yurcak Field on Busch campus and broadcast on Big Ten Plus and 88.7 WRSU-FM.
"(Indiana) will bring a lot of challenges to us but I also think we've had some success against them in the past," McElderry said. "If we can get the ball down on the ground and play and move the ball, then we can kinda hopefully pull them out of their shape a little bit but it will be a very challenging game for us for sure."
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