Women’s Soccer Upgrades From Their First Game with a Draw Against UConn

STORRS, Conn. — Rutgers came into Connecticut looking to build on the half of soccer it actually liked. A week after a 4-1 loss at No. 24 Tennessee that was decided inside the opening half hour, the Scarlet Knights found the follow-through they were afterandtook a point out of Joseph J. Morrone Stadium with a 0-0 draw on Thursday night.

The second half in Knoxville last week gave Rutgers something to point at. The Scarlet Knights outshot the Lady Vols 10-7 after the break, took all six of their corner kicks in the final 45 and got a 76th minute goal from senior forward Emma Johns. The question in Storrs was whether any of that carried, and it did, yet without a goal to show for it.

UConn was a harder assignment than the venue suggested. The Huskies went 11-4-3 last fall, 7-1-2 in the Big East for a third-place finish, and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. This was their third straight double-digit win season under Margaret Rodriguez. They were picked runner-up in the Big East preseason poll behind Georgetown. Despite this, they opened with a 2-2 draw at Stony Brook in which they trailed twice and equalized in the 83rd minute through Ines Nourani’s first career goal. Thursday was their home opener against a program that spent 18 years as a Big East rival before Rutgers left for the Big Ten.

GK: Olivia Bodmer
D: Julia Joseph, Morgan Hippeli, Lindsey Hailey, Patricia Tsokos
M: Gabriela Gil, Lily Ann Phillips
F: Lilia Calvert, Reilly McGlinn, Olivia Russomanno, Amanda Thornton
Subs: Tommi Rose Valente, Marian Dunne, Emma Johns, Riley Morris, Bea Tinoco, Madelyn O’Neill, Sophia Stiles, Audrey Cain, Jayme Malanda

O’Neill made one change to the XI that opened at Tennessee, and it was a notable one as Olivia Russomanno came in for Ashley Baran, the senior who led Rutgers with four goals a year ago and entered the season as a Big Ten Player to Watch. Everything else held though as Olivia Bodmer started in goal behind the same back four of Julia Joseph, Morgan Hippeli, Lindsey Hailey and Patricia Tsokos that conceded four in Knoxville. Gabriela Gil and Lily Ann Phillips again paired in central midfield and true freshmen Lilia Calvert and Amanda Thornton both keeping their places in the attack after making their first career starts last week.

O’Neill went to nine substitutes, matching his total from Tennessee, and this time he used all of them before halftime, while continuing the rotation throughout the second half. Tommi Valente and Marian Dunne were the first changes in the 26th minute, and by the 43rd only Lindsey Hailey remained from the starting group having played the full 45.

UConn came out the aggressor. Chloe Shimkin tested Olivia Bodmer inside six minutes with an effort to the bottom left corner, Gabby Miller went low and central in the 13th, and Riley Prozzo forced a third save in the 34th. These were three shots, all on target, but all stopped by Olivia Bodmer. Bodmer’s clean sheet through 45 minutes was the reason a half that UConn largely controlled territorially stayed level.

Rutgers did not attempt a shot until the 26th minute, when Lilia Calvert dragged one off target moments after Ines Nourani was booked for dissent. The true freshman took the only two Rutgers attempts of the half, the second in the 35th, and was the most willing runner in a Rutgers attack that otherwise struggled to get the ball into the final third with any regularity. The Scarlet Knights managed one corner to UConn’s two and were flagged offside twice.

Then O’Neill emptied the bench. It began with Valente and Dunne coming on in the 26th minute for Lily Ann Phillips and Amanda Thornton, then Emma Johns replaced Olivia Russomanno in the 32nd, and a triple change in the 36th brought on Riley Morris, Bea Tinoco and Madelyn O’Neill for Julia Joseph, Reilly McGlinn and Patricia Tsokos. Sophia Stiles, Audrey Cain and Jayme Malanda followed before the whistle. Margaret Rodriguez rotated six of her own for UConn, showing a revolving door of players in this half. Three-quarters of the Rutgers back four had turned over by the 39th minute, and the last ten minutes belonged to a Rutgers side made up mostly of reserves, one that won two free kicks in that stretch and pushed UConn back without finding a shot.

At the interval, in front of 1,547 at Joseph J. Morrone Stadium, it was a scoreless draw, with neither of Calvert’s shots being on target, despite some impressive footwork.

Both sides reset at the break as O’Neill restored eight starters, Rodriguez four, and Rutgers came out with the ball for the first time all night. Three corners inside 70 seconds around the 50th minute produced the Scarlet Knights’ first sustained spell of the match, and Amanda Thornton dragged the follow-up wide in the 52nd. Reilly McGlinn missed in the 55th. It was more territory than Rutgers had managed in the entire first half.

UConn answered in a burst. Maeve Staunton forced Olivia Bodmer low to her left in the 56th, Maree-anne van Doesburg missed in the 58th and Ines Nourani drew another save a minute later, with two corners following. Bodmer’s third and fourth saves of the night came inside four minutes.

The last half hour turned scrappy. Morgan Hippeli was booked for dissent in the 75th after a foul just outside the area, and was even reviewed to ensure it was not worth a penalty. Mars struck the resulting free kick toward the top right corner only for Bodmer to turn it away. Olivia Beauvois and Gabriela Gil were both cautioned for dissent in the 84th and 86th minutes, four yellow cards on the night, and all four for dissent.

Rutgers had its best moments in that stretch. Marian Dunne missed in the 69th and again in the 79th. Lilia Calvert, the true freshman who led Rutgers with three shots and was the only Scarlet Knight to hit the target all evening, forced Lily Onorato into a save low to her left in the 82nd, and Rutgers won a corner off it. Nothing went in despite the promise

The final numbers were even where it counted and not where it mattered. Both sides took seven shots, with UConn putting six on target to two by Rutgers. Bodmer finished with six saves and a shutout across 90 minutes, the last of them on a corner in the final minute that kept the point. Rutgers improves to 0-1-1, and UConn is still searching for answers at 0-0-2.

The road trip in New England is not over, as Rutgers travels to Fairfield on Sunday afternoon before finally coming home to Yurcak Field next Thursday against Boston College, the first of three straight at home with Providence and Princeton to follow before the Big Ten opener at Oregon on Sept. 10. Two games into a season that started with the two toughest names on the nonconference slate, Rutgers is still searching for a win, but they have secured their first draw. The schedule softens after this huge draw, the only question is whether Rutgers is ready to take advantage of it, with signs of promise on the attack.