Rutgers Falls to UConn in Double OT
Sep 08 | Men's Soccer
STORRS, CT - The Rutgers men's soccer team (1-3, 1-3 BIG EAST) fought a tough battle against defending BIG EAST champion, UConn (1-2-1, 1-0 BIG EAST), but lost, 2-1, in double overtime on a sudden-death goal by O'Brian White. Chris Moore (Gosforth, England) scored RU's only goal of the match, his first of the season.
UConn got on the board early in the first period. In just the third minute of play, Huskie Dori Arad headed the ball into the goal off an assist from Akeem Priestley. Rutgers struggled early in the half against UConn's defense, failing to register a shot until the 21st minute when a Kyle Grato (Princeton Junction, N.J.) shot was saved by UConn goalie Matt Sangeloty. Rutgers had another chance to tie the game in the 38th minute when Brinker Dailey (Alpharetta, GA) headed the ball toward the goal, but it was again saved by Sangeloty, and UConn went into halftime with the 1-0 lead still intact.
Rutgers' offense came alive to outplay UConn in the second half of regulation. All-America candidate Moore'sshot from the goal-line finally got past UConn goalie Sangeloty to tie the match at 1-1. Rutgers had several more scoring opportunities in the half, including a header by senior Bart Koffeman (The Hague, Netherlands) that went high. Regulation time ended on a shot by UConn's Chukwudi Chijindu that went wide right to send the teams into overtime.
In the first overtime period, Rutgers continued to outplay UConn, as Koffeman took the only shot of the period, which was again saved by Sangeloty. However, just 15 seconds into the second overtime period, UConn's offense struck again, as White scored the game-winning goal off Priestley's second assist of the game to give his team the win, its first of the season.
Scarlet Knights head coach Bob Reasso was disappointed with the loss but took some positives away from his team's performance.
"I think we grew up in this game," Reasso said. "We're a young team but we battled in the second half and first overtime like we're supposed to. UConn is a great team but now we just have to take care of business on Sunday [at Providence]."
Rutgers travels to play Providence (3-1), another BIG EAST opponent, Sunday, Sept. 10, at 2:00 p.m.
Soccer Game Summary (Final)
2006 Rutgers Men's Soccer
Rutgers at UConn (Sept. 8 at Storrs, Conn.)
Rutgers (1-3)at UConn (1-2-1)
Date: Sept. 8, 2006 Attendance: 3687
Goals by Period: 1 2 1OT 2OT Tot
Rutgers 0 1 0 0 1
UConn 1 0 0 1 2
Scoring Summary:
Shots: RU - 8, UConn - 10.Saves: RU - 2, UConn - 4.
