Oct. 17, 2007 A BARISIC BRACE Rutgers beats Penn, 2-0
Piscataway, N.J. -- Sophomore Tomislav Barisic scored a pair of goals as the Rutgers men’s soccer team shutout Penn, 2-0, Wednesday night at Yurcak Field. The Scarlet Knights improved to 6-7-1 on the season, while the Quakers fell to 4-6-2.
“I thought we were in control all game long,” Rutgers coach Bob Reasso said. “The only thing we weren’t happy with was when they got set pieces, they were very dangerous. I thought Chris Moore was excellent, Tomislav was fantastic and both Kevin O’Connor and Aly Mazhar were wonderful in the middle of the field.”
“It was a well deserved victory over a good team,” Reasso added. “For us we needed a win, we had a lot of adversity going into the week and I thought our guys did well.”
Both teams traded chances in the first half with the Scarlet Knights holding a slight 9-6 edge in the shot category. Rutgers sophomore goalkeeper Ravi Gill played a big role in keeping the Quakers off the board as he recorded four first half saves. Gill earned the shutout, finishing with five saves on the night to help lead a Rutgers defense that limited Penn to just two shots in the second half.
“Ravi was fantastic,” said Reasso. “He plays his first collegiate game, shows no nerves, makes great saves and gets off his line quickly. I thought he was exceptional, he looked like he played there all season long.”
Gill made his first collegiate start following the absence of starting keeper Matt VanOekel, who was one of four players serving a one-game suspension. The Scarlet Knights were also without starters, Kyle Grato and Jake Martenson, as well as back-up goalie Amir Haghshenas.
The game remained scoreless until the 36th minute when senior Chris Moore connected with Barisic to give the Scarlet Knights the 1-0 lead. Moore, the team’s assist leader with five, gained possession near midfield and carried it deep into the attacking third, where he sent a pass to Barisic, who headed it past an off-balance Quaker defense.
Rutgers maintained its one-goal lead well into the second half, but Barisic would add an insurance score in the 57th minute off a pass from senior Adam Sternberger, giving the Scarlet Knights the 2-0 shutout victory. Sternberger led a charge down the near side of the field, where he found Barisic cutting in front of the box. Sternberger played a well timed ball into the penalty area as Barisic rocketed a header past Healy for the third goal of his collegiate career.
“I don’t know what to say, it’s three goals for my career and I’m very proud of it,” Barisic said. “But it’s not only me, the whole team played well and they are the reason why I scored two goals tonight.”
“Tomo didn’t start out well this year, but we know how talented he is,” said Reasso. “I tried to impress on him before the game that he needed to get in the box. He’s a brave lad who can head the ball when he gets in the box. Tomo is now playing the way he is capable of playing and he needs to play like that if we’re going to be good.”
Rutgers nearly added a third goal with two minutes left to play when freshman Dilly Duka found himself on a break-away down the right side of the field. Duka went one-on-one with the Quakers’ goalkeeper, but his shot just missed the top right corner of the goal, glancing off the post and ricocheting out of play.
The Scarlet Knights will return to action on Saturday at 7 p.m. when they host Big East Red Division rival USF at Yurcak Field. Rutgers is 3-1-1 against the Bulls, having won three of the last four meetings including two-straight.
