MSOC Lands Three on All-Region Team
Dec 10 | Men's Soccer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Rutgers men's soccer program landed three Scarlet Knights on the NSCAA All-Region Team with sophomore forward Jason Wright (Kingston, Jamaica) earning first team honors and senior defender Mitch Lurie (Atlanta, Ga.) and senior midfielder Mitchell Taintor (Storrs, Conn.) bestowed second team accolades.
"Anytime you get these individual awards and recognition, it's great for those players, but even more so for the program," said head coach Dan Donigan. "We were able to enjoy team success this year within the Big Ten conference, earned an NCAA tournament bid and advanced to the second round. Jason got great recognition within the conference with the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year along with others guys getting well deserved recognition, which never comes without team success. I am proud of these guys and more so of this team and where our program is going within the Big Ten and nationally."
Wright, a unanimous selection as Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten, led Rutgers with 31 points (13G, 5A) and ranked among the top 10 nationally and led the Big Ten in goals (13), total points (31) and game winners (5). He captured RU's first hat trick since 2013 in their 5-2 win over Yale (Oct. 6), kicking off a streak of six-straight games finding the back of the opponent's net and also had multiple goal outings with Siena (Aug. 28) and Loyola (MD) (Sept. 29). Three of his game-winning goals came against nationally ranked competition including No. 22 Indiana (Sept. 20), a golden goal at No. 25 Michigan (Oct. 10) and vs. No. 16 Ohio State (Oct. 25), which put Rutgers into first place in the Big Ten standings for the first time in school history.
Lurie, a Second Team All-Big Ten honoree, led Rutgers in assists and helped bolster the Scarlet Knight defense that produced eight shutouts. RU's eight shutouts were the most by the Scarlet Knights since the 1998 season and included contests with nationally-ranked Michigan (Oct. 10) and Ohio State (Oct. 25), as well as Northwestern (Nov. 8) in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Lurie also recorded six assists on the year, which encompassed matchups with Syracuse (Sept. 6), Loyola (MD) (Sept. 29), Penn (Oct. 13), Maryland (Nov. 4) and twice against Northwestern (Oct. 16 & Nov. 8). The RU co-captain was also named to the Central New York Classic All-Tournament Team following the Scarlet Knights' road trip at Syracuse (Sept. 16), one of the four squads at the College Cup, and a 2-1 victory at Colgate (Sept. 14).
Taintor, a Second Team All-Big Ten pick, captured 15 points (5G, 5A) for the Scarlet Knights in 2015. Among the goals the co-captain netted this season were both tallies in RU's 2-0 Big Ten quarterfinal victory over Northwestern (Nov. 8), as well as the game-winner against Nebraska-Omaha (Oct. 31) in the regular season home finale and a penalty kick 10 minutes into RU's season opening victory over Siena (Aug. 28). He also collected three points (1G, 1A) in RU's 8-0 win over Loyola (MD), as one of seven Scarlet Knights to find the back of the Greyhound net. Second on the team in assists, he notched the helper on the game-winning goal in Rutgers' 4-2 victory over Northwestern during the regular season and at No. 5 Akron in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Rutgers men's soccer team closed out the 2015 campaign at 12-7-2 overall and reached the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. RU's 12 victories were the most by the program since the 2001 season.
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-RU-
