Rutgers Men's Soccer Opens 2007 Slate at Michigan
Aug 29 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers men's soccer team, ranked 24th in the nation by College Soccer News, will begin its 2007 season on the road with matches against Michigan Friday, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m., and Oakland University Sunday, Sept. 2 at 12:00 p.m.
Following its two-game road trip, Rutgers will return to Piscataway to begin its home schedule against University Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Saturday, Sept. 8.
In preparation for the upcoming season, the Scarlet Knights played two preseason matches against the University of Montreal and at Ohio State. Rutgers played Montreal to a 1-1 tie as senior forward Adam Sternberger (Mays Landing, N.J.) evened the score with a second-half goal. Rutgers dropped a 1-0 decision to Ohio State in its final tune-up match.
In addition to Sternberger, who has led the team in goals for the past two seasons, the Scarlet Knights also welcome back senior Chris Moore (Gosforth, England), who helped spark the offense last season with a team-best five assists and classmate Kevin O'Connor (Freehold, N.J.), who was third on the team with three goals and a pair of assists.
Senior Kyle Grato (Princeton Junction, N.J.) along with redshirt juniors Jake Martenson (Winchester, Va.) and Ryan Breznitsky (Scotch Plains, N.J.) will also return to help anchor the Scarlet Knight defense.
Senior Matt VanOekel (Chesapeake, Va.) will be in goal again this season. He had a standout junior campaign, finishing the season with a goals-against-average of 0.83, while allowing multiple goals in just three of RU's 19 games and posting six shutouts.
The Scarlet Knights will also welcome a stellar 13-member class which was rated 27th in the nation by College Soccer News.
Highlighting this group of standout players are three All-State players in Dilly Duka (Montville, N.J.), Mike Volk (Bear. Del.), and Chris Edwards (West Orange, N.J.). Also helping to bolster the incoming class are Aly Mazhar (Cairo, Egypt) and Tino Waked (Cairo, Egypt), a pair of Egyptian youth national team players.
