Rutgers Gets Past Men’s Soccer in Nonleague Match

Tuesday, October 20

West Point, N.Y.

7 PM ET

Army West Point

3-5-4

Rutgers

9-4-1

Rutgers

Army West Point

Rutgers Gets Past Men’s Soccer in Nonleague Match

October 20, 2015 | Men's Soccer

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Rutgers scored a goal in each half to take a 2-0 victory over the Army West Point men's soccer team on Tuesday evening at Clinton Field. Army slips to 3-5-4 overall this season, while Rutgers wins its fifth straight to improve to 9-4-1.

Army senior Chris Britt was tested early, as he made a save on a shot at a left angle from Miles Hackett in the third minute. Britt totaled four stops in the match.

"Tonight came down to execution," said head coach Russell Payne. "I thought our guys were doing really well to build and find passing lanes and be dangerous in the attacking third. Our defenders were doing well against a talented team. We let ourselves down and we had to start chasing the game and get back into it. We had a couple of balls in the box that we could have put away and it could have been a very different game for us."

Freshman Christian Lue Young fired a shot from inside the 18-yard box on a right-swinging cross from junior Christian Ollen in the 15th minute, but didn't get all of the shot, sending it wide of the net.

Rutgers grabbed a 1-0 lead after striking for a goal in the 20th minute on a transition play, as Jason Wright received a long pass from goalkeeper David Greczek before making his way into the 18-yard box and scoring. The pass from Greczek followed a shot from Army junior Tanner Vosvick that was blocked after a Black Knights' free kick on the visitors' end of the field.

The Black Knights responded with some dangerous scoring opportunities of their own, as freshman Grayson Naquin sent an attempt wide of the Rutgers goal in the 22nd minute before Ollen had his hard shot from just outside the 18-yard box blocked by a Scarlet Knight defender in the 25th minute.

Britt kept the Rutgers advantage to 1-0 with a low one-handed save on a chance by Hackett in the 29th minute before saving another shot off the foot of Mitchell Taintor 31 seconds later.

The Scarlet Knights took an 8-5 advantage in shots into the halftime break before finishing the game with a 13-9 lead in the category.

Britt saw his way through a group of Rutgers players to make a save on a shot from Ahmad Faheem in the 49th minute, as the Scarlet Knights continued to lead by a goal.

Naquin had a hard shot along the right side of the field saved by Greczek in the 53rd minute before Brandon Tetro received a through pass from Brian Hawkins and scored to double the Rutgers lead to 2-0 in the 56th minute.

The Black Knights received one of their best chances of the match in the 73rd minute when sophomore Okheem Riley got on the end of a cross from senior Tommy Jaeger and directed a hard shot on net before Greczek, who finished the evening with a pair of saves, corralled the attempt inside the right post.

Army returns to Patriot League action on Saturday, Oct. 24 when it travels to Baltimore, Md., to face Loyola for a 7 p.m. match.

MATCH NOTES: Rutgers defeats Army for the second year in a row as the all-time series between the schools moves to 18-9-2, in favor of the Black Knights … Army played a total of 17 players to tie for the second most it has used in a single game this season (18 players vs. Fairleigh Dickinson; 17 players vs. Air Force and Sacred Heart).