PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Michigan did not attempt a shot for the first 46 minutes Friday night. Over the next 29, the Wolverines scored three goals.
Rutgers and Michigan drew 3-3 at Yurcak Field on Senior Knight, the last home match of the regular season. Francesco Di Ponzio scored at 2:31, Zach Mastrodimos at 30:54 and Matty Lynch at 47:21, 141 seconds after coming on at halftime, and for 57 minutes Rutgers looked set to close the best week of their season with a third straight win. Then Nick Nobles scored at 57:26,
and Grayson Elmquist scored at 64:56 and again at 75:21, off the rebound of a Rafael Ponce de Leon save. It is the third straight draw in this series, after a 1-1 here in 2024 and a 0-0 in Ann Arbor last season.
Rutgers came in at 7-6-1 and 5-3 in the Big Ten. Rutgers beat previously unbeaten No. 2 Indiana 1-0 on Oct. 16 on Di Ponzio’s 72nd-minute goal, then went to Penn State on Tuesday and won 5-0, their most goals in a match this season and their fifth Big Ten win, the most since Rutgers joined the conference. Di Ponzio and Ponce de Leon were both named Big Ten Players of the Week afterward. The finishing that has been the running complaint all season had come around with it, at 170 shots for 24 goals.
Michigan arrived 3-5-4 and 0-3-3 in the Big Ten, still looking for their first conference win in the 15th season under Chaka Daley. The Wolverines had not won in October, losing 2-1 at home to Portland on Oct. 4, drawing 0-0 with Penn State and 1-1 at then-No. 12 Michigan State, then losing 3-2 to No. 14 Maryland last Friday, when Elmquist scored in the 33rd minute and Guy Michaeli in the 85th. Michigan had scored 12 goals in the first 11 matches, last in the Big Ten, before those two against Maryland. Elmquist, a senior forward from Lake City, Mich., came in with a team-high five goals, eighth in the conference, and Isaiah Goldson made his fourth start of the season in goal. Michigan led the all-time series 8-3-4.
Rutgers outshot Michigan 25-8.
The Scarlet Knights did not win.
The point was still enough to clinch Rutgers a place in the Big Ten Tournament.
Lineup
GK: Rafael Ponce de Leon
D: Simon Gorczowski, Devon Stopek, Nick Collins, Hector Criado
M: Pius Ssebulime, Zach Mastrodimos, William Pierce, Amer Lukovic, Francesco Di Ponzio
F: Dan Karsten
Subs: Jeffrey Bryjak, Thomas Angelone, Erick Ruiz, Braxton Montgomery, Joshua Jerome, Matty Lynch
McElderry sent out the same eleven that won at Penn State, his first unchanged lineup since Wisconsin, and the box score filed Rutgers as four defenders, five midfielders and one forward for a sixth straight match. Nick Collins, who scored from the penalty spot Tuesday, lasted until 10:37, when Jeffrey Bryjak replaced him, and he did not return.
The half-hour change came at 30:54, the same clock as Mastrodimos’ goal, and it was four this time, with Thomas Angelone on for Simon Gorczowski, Erick Ruiz for William Pierce, Braxton Montgomery for Dan Karsten and Joshua Jerome for Amer Lukovic. All four starters came back. Gorczowski returned for Bryjak at 58:36, Lukovic and Karsten went back on at 64:56, the clock of Michigan’s second goal, and Pierce replaced Di Ponzio at 75:21, the clock of its third. Jerome lasted 14 minutes before Lynch replaced him at halftime.
Lynch scored 141 seconds after coming on. McElderry took him off at 64:56, after 20 minutes.
Ponce de Leon, Devon Stopek, Pius Ssebulime, Mastrodimos and Hector Criado went the full 90, and McElderry used all six of his substitutes for 10 changes in all.
Daley churned just as hard. He made three changes at 23:51, one of them taking off Michaeli 49 seconds after a booking, then four more at halftime, Tamer Ibsais for Kamau Brame at 58:36 and three more at 85:25, with Michaeli coming back on among them. He used eight substitutes, and they decided the night.
Thomas Fraser came off the Michigan bench at 23:51 and assisted on all three goals.
Di Ponzio Scores Early, and Michigan Never Shoots
Rutgers took three shots in the first 2:31 and scored on the third. Karsten forced Goldson into a save low and central at 0:35, Lukovic did the same at 1:46, and at 2:31 Di Ponzio, the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, finished top left with his left foot off assists from Lukovic and Karsten.
Rutgers had six shots by 5:48. Pierce forced a save bottom right at 4:15 after the first of two Rutgers corners in 73 seconds, Di Ponzio missed at 4:42 and Pierce missed again at 5:48. Michigan won a corner at 7:41 and did nothing with it, and Michaeli had already fouled twice by then, at 2:54 and 6:44.
The fouls kept coming from one side. Camron Estala, Will Baker, Patrick O’Toole and Kian Concepcion all fouled between 12:19 and 16:09, and O’Toole was booked at 15:32 for taking down Di Ponzio, who took the free kick himself and forced Goldson into a save top center. Pierce had two more attempts in 14 seconds, at 14:24 and 14:38, and neither reached the goal.
At 23:02 Michaeli fouled Criado and was booked, a VAR review let the card stand, and Mastrodimos was booked at the same clock. Forty-nine seconds later Daley pulled Michaeli in his triple change. Rutgers did not commit their first foul until 25:16, when Lukovic caught Alex Gimple. Michigan had committed seven by then.
Rutgers won their third corner at 30:14, and 40 seconds later Mastrodimos put a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner off assists from Bryjak and Karsten. McElderry made his four changes at the same clock, two goals up against a team that had yet to attempt a shot.
The rest of the half was mostly whistles. Gimple, Elmquist and Fraser fouled for Michigan and Ruiz for Rutgers, and the only shot of the last 14 minutes was Di Ponzio’s, off target at 41:56.
At halftime Rutgers had 14 shots, six on target and two goals. Michigan had no shots, two corners, 10 fouls and two yellow cards. Goldson had made four saves.
Ponce de Leon had not faced a shot.
Lynch Makes It 3-0, Then Michigan Scores Three in 18 Minutes
Daley made four changes at the break, bringing on Nobles, Michael Ramirez, Joah Reyna and Joao Paulo Ramos, and McElderry sent Lynch on for Jerome. Michigan’s first shot of the match came at 46:50, an Elmquist attempt that was blocked. Thirty-one seconds later it was 3-0.
Lynch, a junior forward from Chesterfield, N.J., and a former New Jersey Prep Player of the Year at The Pennington School, finished bottom right with his right foot at 47:21, off assists from Angelone and Bryjak. Elmquist had another attempt blocked at 47:38, Rutgers won corners at 53:46 and 54:32, and for 10 minutes nothing suggested what was coming.
At 57:26 Nobles, 12 minutes after coming on, put Michigan’s third shot of the night into the top right corner off assists from Fraser and Elmquist. Rutgers answered with two shots off target, from Mastrodimos at 57:59 and Di Ponzio at 60:01. At 64:56 Elmquist finished bottom right with his right foot off Ramirez and Fraser, and it was 3-2. McElderry responded at the same clock by sending Lukovic and Karsten back on for Angelone and Lynch.
Karsten and Lukovic both shot off target within three minutes, at 65:34 and 67:16, and Lukovic’s free kick at 68:02, after Ramos fouled Di Ponzio and was booked, went off target too. Michigan was booked as a team at 73:35, and less than two minutes later it scored again.
At 75:21 Fraser shot low to the right, Ponce de Leon saved it and Elmquist put the rebound into the bottom right corner. Michigan had scored three goals on six shots. Pierce came on for Di Ponzio at the same clock, and 12 seconds later Lukovic had a shot saved top right.
Three goals in 17 minutes and 55 seconds, from a team that had not attempted a shot for the first 46.
Rutgers spent the last 15 minutes doing everything but scoring. It was caught offside at 76:49 and 82:39, Pierce had a shot blocked at 77:27, and Criado was booked for a foul on Elmquist at 80:50 that gave Estala a free kick, which he put off target. At 85:21 a VAR review was initiated for a potential Rutgers penalty, Goldson was booked, Rutgers was awarded a free kick and Daley made three changes, taking Elmquist off. Karsten’s shot at 85:33 went low and central, and Goldson saved it.
Lukovic then forced two more saves in 32 seconds, bottom right at 86:43 and bottom center at 87:15. He finished with seven shots, four on target and none in. Ramirez had the last shot of the match at 89:33, and Ponce de Leon saved it. That was the match, and the last regular-season night at Yurcak ended level.
Rutgers took 11 shots in the second half, put five on target and scored once. Michigan took eight, put five on target and scored three times. After the equalizer Rutgers put four shots on goal, and Goldson saved all four on his way to eight saves.
Rutgers closes the regular season at Michigan State on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m. at DeMartin Stadium, already assured of a place in the Big Ten Tournament, whose quarterfinals begin Nov. 8 at the sites of the top two seeds. Michigan goes home to face defending national champion Washington on Monday. Last season’s finale against Michigan State was a 1-1 draw at Yurcak that eliminated both teams from the Big Ten Tournament. This time Rutgers goes to East Lansing already in it.
The season numbers now read 7-6-2 overall and 5-3-1 in the Big Ten, with 195 shots and 27 goals for a conversion rate of 13.8 percent, 84 shots on goal, 83 corners, 190 fouls, 27 yellow cards and no red cards. Rutgers has kept five clean sheets. Ponce de Leon has made 45 saves and conceded 17 goals across 15 matches, two of those saves and three of those goals coming Friday.
Michigan needed six shots to score three goals.
Rutgers took 25 and could not find a fourth.
