SEATTLE, Wash. — Simon Gorczowski had never scored a goal for Rutgers. Rafael Ponce de Leon had never made more than seven saves in a college match. By the end of Wednesday night, both of those things had changed, and neither one was enough.
No. 15 Rutgers and No. 11 Washington drew 1-1 through 110 minutes in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals at Husky Soccer Stadium, and the second-seeded Huskies won the shootout 3-2 to reach Sunday’s final. Gorczowski, a sophomore defender from Saddle Brook, N.J.,
put the third seed ahead at 65:23 off a corner, and Zach Ramsey equalized at 76:47, four seconds after Ponce de Leon had saved Jake Goetting’s penalty. Ponce de Leon finished with a career-high nine saves. It goes in the record book as a draw, the third of the season for the Scarlet Knights, and it ends their Big Ten Tournament one win short of a first final since 2022.
Rutgers came in at 9-6-2 and 6-3-1 in the Big Ten, three days removed from a 2-0 quarterfinal win over UCLA on the same field, when substitutes Joshua Jerome and Matty Lynch scored 83 and 145 seconds after coming on. That was the program’s first Big Ten Tournament win since they lifted the trophy in 2022.
Washington, the defending national champion, had not played since Nov. 4, when they lost their regular-season finale 1-0 at UCLA and Ramsey sent a penalty wide after Cameron Cruz drew it. Jamie Clark’s side still finished second at 6-2-2, earned a first-round bye and arrived 10-4-3 overall. They had already beaten Rutgers 4-1 here on Sept. 25, when Ramsey scored twice before the half-hour mark. He came in with 18 goals, tied with Ken Garrett (1973) for second in program history and one behind the record of 19 Craig Beeson set in 1987, and Top Drawer Soccer has him as the No. 1 player in the country.
Washington took six shots in the first 65 minutes.
They took eight in the next 25.
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: Erick Ruiz, Braxton Montgomery, Thomas Angelone, Joshua Jerome, Jeffrey Bryjak, Matty Lynch, Charlie Kitch
Jim McElderry sent out the same eleven for a fifth straight match, the group that won at Penn State, drew Michigan, won in East Lansing and beat UCLA on Sunday.
The half-hour change came all at once again. At 29:30 Erick Ruiz went on for Gorczowski, Braxton Montgomery for Pierce and Thomas Angelone for Karsten, 34 seconds after Clark had made three of his own with Goetting on for Callum Lugton, Kevin Hernandez for Cruz and Clarens Dollin for Osato Enabulele. Jerome replaced Lukovic at 35:02. Jeffrey Bryjak came on for Montgomery at 42:40 and went back off for him 38 seconds later.
Then the recalls. Gorczowski came back at halftime with Lynch on for Di Ponzio, Di Ponzio and Lukovic returned at 61:45, Karsten at 72:29 and Pierce at 80:55. Rutgers made 22 substitutions using seven substitutes. Only Ponce de Leon, Devon Stopek and Mastrodimos played all 110 minutes, and Collins missed that list by 76 seconds.
Clark made 10 changes, and Ramsey was one of his recalls, off for Wyatt Lewis at 42:40 and back on for Alex Hall at halftime.
Gorczowski was back on the field for 20 minutes and 23 seconds before he scored.
Rutgers Takes Seven Shots and Goes In Level
Rutgers had the better of a first half that was mostly throw-ins. Karsten had the first shot of the night blocked at 5:31 and Lukovic put one off target at 7:00. Washington’s first real chance came at 9:16, when Enabulele aimed toward the top center and Ponce de Leon saved it.
The best Rutgers spell came in seven seconds at 16:24. Collins forced Stockton Short into a save at the bottom left, and Lukovic followed at 16:31 with a shot toward the bottom center that Washington kept out, credited as a team save. Di Ponzio forced another Short save at 19:37 and Pierce sent one off target at 25:35, and Rutgers had six shots, three on target, before the half-hour mark.
After the changes the half tilted. Harrison Bertos forced Ponce de Leon’s second save at 30:41, low to the bottom center. Ssebulime was booked for unsporting behavior at 31:03 on the same clock as a Ruiz foul, and Ramsey put his only shot of the half off target at 31:17. Goetting had one blocked at 36:47.
The most eventful minute came at the end. Criado’s shot toward the top left at 42:15 was kept out by the Washington defense, and the play went to a VAR review for a possible Rutgers penalty. It came back as offside against Rutgers. Collins was booked at 43:42 after a Mastrodimos foul, Rutgers’ second yellow of the half, and the teams went in 0-0.
Rutgers led the shots 7-5 and the shots on target 4-2 at the break, with the corners 2-2 and the fouls 7-7.
Washington had tested Ponce de Leon twice.
They would test him seven more times.
A First Goal for Gorczowski, a 19th for Ramsey
Washington opened the second half with two corners in 35 seconds, at 45:43 and 46:18, and then the match went quiet. Rutgers won three corners in eight minutes, at 52:13, 56:16 and 60:05, without getting a shot away from any of them. Hernandez had Washington’s first attempt of the half at 59:30 and put it off target.
Mastrodimos was booked at 62:28, Rutgers’ third yellow, and Angelone had a shot blocked at 63:37.
Then Gorczowski got a goal.
It came off a Rutgers corner at 65:23. A header was deflected into his path, the net was open, and he put it into the top left with his left foot. Di Ponzio and Criado were credited with the assists. It was the first goal of Gorczowski’s career, and it came 20 minutes after McElderry sent him back on, which is about as clean an endorsement of the recall pattern as Rutgers has produced all season. The goal went to a VAR review for a foul, and the call stood.
Then everything changed.
Clark sent Hall back on for Cruz on the same clock, and 20 seconds later Bertos forced a save at the bottom left. Washington won a corner at 65:50 and another at 71:43, Goetting put one off target at 70:31, and McElderry made two more changes at 72:29, Bryjak for Angelone and Karsten back on for Criado.
At 76:43 Stopek was called for a foul in the box. Goetting took the penalty, not Ramsey, and Ponce de Leon saved it low and central, his second penalty save in three matches after the one in East Lansing. He could not hold on to it. Ramsey was first to the rebound and put it into the top center with his left foot at 76:47 for his 19th goal of the season, level with Beeson’s 39-year-old program record.
It was a perfect save, and it was also a perfect rebound.
Washington kept coming. Dollin shot off target at 77:37, and Ramsey and Hall forced two more saves seven seconds apart at 79:41 and 79:48. Bertos was booked at 80:43, Di Ponzio put the resulting free kick off target, and at 80:55 Montgomery went on for Ruiz and Pierce came back on for Di Ponzio.
At 85:06, with 4:54 left, Collins went down injured and play was stopped, and the Washington crowd booed, apparently viewing the stoppage as a momentum killer. Charlie Kitch came on for him, Karsten put a shot off target at 86:09, and Collins was back on at 86:22. Egor Akulov was booked at 87:01 and the play went to VAR, and Rutgers came away with a free kick and was flagged offside 13 seconds later.
The last shot of regulation came at 90:00. Bertos sent it toward the bottom left, and Ponce de Leon saved it with the clock reading zero.
After the goal, Washington took eight shots, put six on target and scored once. Rutgers took two and put none on target.
110 Minutes Level, Then Dollin Ends It From the Spot
Hall forced Ponce de Leon’s eighth save at 91:32, at the bottom right, and with that he had passed the career high of seven he set at Northwestern against UCLA in 2025. Then came six fouls in 2:52, three on each side, from Bertos at 92:08 to Bertos again at 95:00. Rutgers was flagged offside at 98:46, and Bertos had a shot blocked at 99:42 before the first overtime ended.
Hernandez forced the ninth save at 104:28, at the bottom center. Rutgers’ only shot of extra time came at 105:53, when Lynch put one toward the bottom center and Short saved it. It was Rutgers’ first shot on target since the goal, 40 minutes and 30 seconds earlier. The second overtime ended 1-1.
Rutgers shot first. Collins, back on the field after the injury scare, had his kick saved by Short at the bottom center. Ramsey, with a record-tying goal already in hand, sent his over the top. Pierce’s kick was also saved low and central, and Hall put Washington ahead at the bottom left. Karsten answered into the top right, Akulov scored at the bottom left, and Di Ponzio made it 2-2 at the bottom right.
Then Hernandez tried a Panenka, and Ponce de Leon saved it.
Lukovic stepped up with the chance to put Rutgers ahead and sent his kick over the top. Dollin went into the top right, and that was the match, and that spelled the Sorrow in Seattle.
Ponce de Leon faced five kicks, saved one and watched another sail over. Short saved two.
Washington goes to Bloomington to face top seed Indiana in the Big Ten final on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 3 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The No. 3 Hoosiers beat Maryland 1-0 in the other semifinal. Rutgers now waits on an at-large bid, with the NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday, Nov. 16, at 1 p.m. and the first round starting Nov. 19. A draw with the defending national champion on their own field and a 6-4-1 record against ranked opponents is the résumé they take into Monday.
The season numbers now read 9-6-3 overall, with 240 shots and 34 goals for a conversion rate of 14.2 percent, 105 shots on goal, 101 corners, 236 fouls, 35 yellow cards and no red cards. Rutgers has kept six clean sheets. Ponce de Leon has made 64 saves and conceded 19 goals across 18 matches, nine of those saves and one of those goals coming Wednesday.
Rutgers played 200 minutes of soccer in Seattle this week and did not lose either match in regulation.
They still won’t be playing on Sunday.
