Rutgers women's soccer kicks off season with historic 9-0 start
Just a month into their season, the Rutgers women’s soccer team has already made history.
By downing Ohio State 2-1 in their Big Ten opener on Sunday, the Scarlet Knights extended their season-opening winning streak to nine, reaching a historic milestone in program history.
"It's a great feeling," said Sara Brocious, a junior midfielder, after the game. "We set these goals at the beginning of the year. We were proud of going undefeated out of conference, but we always say conference play is a new slate.”
Goalkeeper Meagan McClelland of Kearny recorded another shutout against the Buckeyes, the 39th of her career. Forward Allison Lowrey scored in the sixth minute of play, while Brocious secured the Knights a comfortable lead with another goal in the 55th minute. Lowrey and attacker Sam Kroeger are leading the team on offense with six goals each so far this year.
The Knights have recorded five shutout games in four weeks. They boast 29 goals scored and only 5 goals against.
The team’s record start continues their impressive run from last year, when they became the first Rutgers team to win a regular season Big Ten title after going undefeated in all of conference play. The team made it to the College Cup last year for the first time since 2015.
“Last year we all came out and we knew how good we could be,” Brocious said after a recent practice. “We all believed in ourselves, and that carried over, because we did great last year. But we always know we can do better and improve, so we came out this year with the desire to do even better.”
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The team’s 9-0 start was reached on Alumni Day, as the team celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX. In many ways, this year's roster is chasing a standard set by their 2015 predecessors – reaching the same milestones and even surpassing them. That 2015 team included current assistant coach Madison Tiernan and current United States Women’s National Team goalkeeper Casey Murphy. Tiernan previously played in the National Women's Soccer League, and Murphy is currently with the North Carolina Courage.
Longtime head coach Mike O’Neill said part of the team’s success has been their ability to focus on every game like it’s the biggest match of the year. It's a mindset the team adopted last year and has carried over into the new season.
“Big thing last year was to just take it one game at a time,” O’Neill said. “They have to come out and get better every day. That's a mindset, and they have that mindset. But what was important to us is that the most important the game of the year is the next game.”
The team resumes conference play on Thursday night at University Park where they will face rival Penn State, before returning to Yurcack Field to face Maryland on Sept. 25.
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Though the team is off to a hot start, the players say they still have plenty more to accomplish this year. More shutouts. More goals. More working together as a team one game at a time.
“We’ve worked for this,” junior forward and midfielder Giana Romano said. “We set our goals and we put our best on the field every day to try to get to this. This obviously isn't the end, and we still want more. It's good start, but we want more.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers women's soccer starts season with historic 9-0 start
