PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Seventeen days and three states after it opened the season in Knoxville, and three days after the weather took its home opener, Rutgers finally played a home game, and the goal drought that followed it up the coast ended barely two minutes in, but the clean sheet streak also ended in gutwrenching fashion. Providence drew Rutgers 3-3 on Sunday night at Yurcak Field, with the last two goals coming in the final minutes of the game.
Rutgers arrived at 0-1-2 with two clean sheets and
180 scoreless minutes behind it. Olivia Bodmer made six saves in the 0-0 draw at UConn and kept a second consecutive shutout at Fairfield, where Rutgers took the larger share of the shots and put too few of them on frame. The last Scarlet Knights goal came from Emma Johns in the 76th minute at Tennessee on Aug. 13, 17 days ago. With three goals in the game, Rutgers scored more than their previous three games combined, invoking a newfound hope in the attack.
Providence came to Piscataway unbeaten at 2-0-3, with three draws in five matches. The Friars opened 1-1 against UMass Lowell, beat Rhode Island 3-0, drew Monmouth, played out a scoreless 90 minutes at Northeastern and beat Stonehill 2-1 on Thursday. Freshman Jocy Koffi scored in each of the first two matches, including an 87th-minute equalizer against Lowell, and took BIG EAST Rookie of the Week; junior defender Stephanie Schoeley was named Defensive Player of the Week the same day. They went 6-6-4 last season, 3-4-3 in the Big East, and was picked sixth in the conference preseason coaches’ poll. This clearly showed given their fight near the end of the game
Lineup
GK: Olivia Bodmer
D: Julia Joseph, Morgan Hippeli, Lindsey Hailey, Jayme Malanda
M: Gabriela Gil, Lily Ann Phillips
F: Lilia Calvert, Reilly McGlinn, Ashley Baran, Amanda Thornton
Subs: Tommi Valente, Olivia Russomanno, Marian Dunne, Emma Johns, Sophia Stiles, Audrey Cain, Madelyn O’Neill, Riley Morris, Bea Tinoco
Mike O’Neill made one change to the XI that started at Fairfield, and it came in the back four. Jayme Malanda, who did not appear in the Fairfield box score at all, started at Providence. Patricia Tsokos, who had started each of the first three matches, does not appear in this one, not in the XI, not among the nine substitutes, no minutes logged.
That is now three consecutive weeks in which a Rutgers player has moved in or out of the matchday squad without explanation. Everything else held: Bodmer in goal, Gil and Phillips paired centrally, Calvert and Thornton keeping their places up front for a fourth straight start.
O’Neill used nine substitutes for a fourth straight match, and again emptied the bench before halftime. Then he did something he had not done all season, he put the entire starting XI back on the field for the second half. All eleven who kicked off restarted the match.
A First Half That Looked Like Nothing Before It
Gabriela Gil found Ashley Baran at 1:43 and Rutgers led before Providence had settled into the match at all. Amanda Thornton nearly doubled it 27 seconds later, dragging a shot right of the frame, and for a moment it looked like the kind of opening that decides a game early.
Providence did not let it. Signe Tingager forced Bodmer into a save at 2:46, Hinkle did the same 18 seconds later, and the Friars won corners at 3:11 and 6:16 as Rutgers spent the first ten minutes defending its own box. Hinkle struck the woodwork at 9:58. Meg Roden made Bodmer work again at 11:09. Tingager tested her a second time at 17:50, low to the left. Providence was chasing the game and playing like it, and the pressure produced real chances rather than territory.
Rutgers helped them along. Bodmer misplayed one save that the Friars could not punish, and a loose Calvert pass out of the back handed Providence a look it did not finish. Neither mistake cost anything, but both were the kind that have cost this team before. Then Calvert delivered for Reilly McGlinn at 18:28, and Rutgers led 2-0 against the run of play as it looked from the stands.
The numbers say otherwise. Rutgers finished the half with eight shots to Providence’s seven and led 3-2 on corners. The Friars generated urgency without generating an edge in either column. What separated the teams was the frame. Providence put five of its seven attempts on target and scored none of them. Rutgers put two on target and scored both. Maria Ravotti did not make a save in 45 minutes of work.
Providence responded to the second goal immediately, sending on Marryn Gruhn and Kaitlyn Brady at 18:28, and O’Neill began his own rotation at 24:47 with Tommi Valente and Marian Dunne. Koffi drew a save at 24:14 and then the half went quiet. Dunne shot at 31:03, Morgan Hippeli at 32:57, Olivia Russomanno wide at 33:45, Lily Gibbs wide at the other end at 34:38. Rutgers was flagged offside three times before the break and Providence once. Both benches kept emptying, and by 38:04 the two teams had made 13 substitutions between them.
Three Ahead, Then Sixty-Nine Seconds
Caitlin Daley replaced Ravotti at the break and was tested inside ten seconds, Koffi forcing Bodmer into a save at the other end on the first attack of the half. Koffi won a corner at 48:51 and then scored from it, the ball curling in without touching anyone on its way. It was her fifth of the season and the kind of goal that changes a match’s temperature.
For a while it did not. Rutgers restored the two-goal cushion at 54:31 when a Providence clearance went into the Friars’ own net, and Providence answered by changing seven players at once at 56:49. That group came out pressing, Caitlin Driscoll’s shot at 57:26 was blocked and credited as a team save, Koffi drew another Bodmer stop at 57:57, Courtnee Pickles and Samantha Kolb both had looks inside 70 seconds, and then the Friars stopped shooting almost entirely. From 58:32 to 74:15, Providence did not register an attempt.
That stretch belonged to Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights took 16 shots in the second half and seven corners, and for half an hour they controlled the ball in a way they have not managed at any point this season. Dunne had four attempts off the bench. Baran drew a save from Daley at 63:31 and shot over at 63:40. Lindsey Hailey forced another save at 66:33, Emma Johns another at 67:56. Calvert struck the crossbar at 81:59 with a shot that looked in from the moment it left her foot.
Daley saved all five Rutgers attempts that reached her. The only goal she conceded in 45 minutes was the one Providence scored on itself.
The discipline went first. Kolb was booked at 75:37, Leila Anazagasty-Pursoo at 78:50, and then Hippeli at 80:03, withdrawn 29 seconds later. Julia Joseph was cautioned at 85:57. All four yellow cards in the match came inside the final 15 minutes. In between the last two, Kolb delivered a ball to Hinkle at 84:51 and the Buffalo transfer scored her first goal for Providence, a finish that went to video review and stood. Koffi equalized at 86:00.
Sixty-nine seconds.
A two-goal lead Rutgers had held for half an hour was gone inside a minute and change, and the Scarlet Knights could not get it back. Hippeli’s shot at 88:59 was the last thing either team generated. Rutgers outshot Providence 24-18 and led 10-4 on corners. Providence put 13 of its 18 attempts on target and Rutgers seven of 24. Koffi alone hit the frame six times in six tries. Bodmer made nine saves and conceded three. No Rutgers player registered more than two shots on goal.
The result leaves Rutgers winless with three draws and a shot profile that reads better than the record. Four matches in, the Scarlet Knights have produced their most complete half of soccer and their worst 90 seconds, and both happened Sunday.
Providence moves to 2-0-4, a team that has now drawn four of six. Rutgers gets Princeton at Yurcak on Sunday before Big Ten play opens, with the Boston College makeup still unscheduled.
The goals came back. Holding them is the next thing.
