Rutgers men's soccer concedes late goal, falls to Indiana in Big Ten opener
The Rutgers men’s soccer team came close to earning a tie with Indiana in its Big Ten opener on Friday night, but a late strike from Tommy Mihalic ultimately gave the Hoosiers (2-2-2, 1-0-0) the 1-0 win. The Scarlet Knights (3-4-0, 0-1-0) have now lost three straight games.
Indiana came out of the gates on the front foot, pressing the Rutgers backline and dominating possession.
Senior midfielder Curt Calov had the Knights’ first and only shot on target in the first half in the 20th minute. Making his first career start, freshman midfielder and forward Illia Tyrkus played a through ball splitting the Hoosiers backline that found Calov, but Indiana goalkeeper JT Harms easily saved his shot.
The Hoosiers had the best chance of the half in the 22nd minute when Mihalic’s shot forced junior goalkeeper Ciaran Dalton into a fingertip save, with the ball deflecting off the left post. That would not be the last time the woodwork was hit in this game.
Minutes later, a long throw-in from sophomore defender Devon Stopek found the head of sophomore defender Nick Collins, but his headed attempt blasted off the top of the crossbar.
Both sides went into the break scoreless, but each had a shot on goal.
Like in the first half, Indiana came out of the locker room with more intensity.
In the 55th minute, a ball into the box found Justin Weiss, but Dalton put both hands up to save the shot impressively. The ball rebounded out to Collins Oduro on the edge of the box, who blasted the shot right at Dalton.
The game’s tempo slowed, with each team playing more defensively and physically.
Dalton would be called upon again in the 82nd minute as Mihalic shot the ball from the right wing. Dalton comfortably caught the ball for his 4th save of the night.
Mihalic finally got the best of Dalton in the 87th minute, as Samuel Sarver played a pass to Mihalic at the top of the box, who hit the ball first-time into the back of tbe net for his 4th goal of the season.
Mihalic’s late goal proved the game-winner as Rutgers suffered its third straight loss in its Big Ten opener.
Dalton would finish with four saves and kept his team in the game from start to finish.
“I thought (Dalton) had a really good game, made some big saves when we needed him,” said head coach Jim McElderry. "I thought there was a couple of maybe 5 or 10-minute spells in this game where he had to come up big for us and kept us in this game."
The Knights will next play Yale on the road on Tuesday night. Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. in New Haven, Connecticut.
“Really proud of the guys, I thought they played with urgency and real commitment,” McElderry said. “I was just saying to them after the game that you’ve done everything to get something out of this game ... I feel for these guys because they deserve more than what our record shows right now."
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