DePaul University Athletics
Blue Demons Fall to Rutgers
10/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S SOCCER
Box Score
CHICAGO – The DePaul men’s soccer team jumped out to a 1-0 lead 17 minutes into the match, but the visiting Rutgers Scarlet Knights scored three unanswered goals for a 3-1 decision on Saturday afternoon at Wish Field. Anthony Minniti scored his third goal of the season for the Blue Demons.
DePaul (3-7-2, 1-5-1 BIG EAST) struck first off a free kick opportunity. Following a foul on the Scarlet Knights, Luke Rojo lined up the free kick from 40 yards out. His serve into the box found a streaking Minniti who headed it past Rutgers’ Matt VanOekel at 16:31.
Rutgers knotted the match at 1-1 when the DePaul defense attempted to clear the ball from the corner. The ball ended up at the top of the penalty box where Jake Martenson gathered it and sent shot to the upper left corner past a diving Brian Visser at 37:42.
The score remained at 1-1 into halftime as Rutgers outshot DePaul, 6-2, in the first half. Overall, the visitors tallied 12 shots in the match compared to nine for the Blue Demons. The Scarlet Knights also registered six corner kicks to three for DePaul.
The eventual game-winner came early in the second half off a pair of nice passes by Kevin O’Connor and Chris Moore. Moore took O’Connor’s feed in the left corner and sent a cross into the box that Adam Sternberger fired past Visser at 49:37.
Adam Lloyd added the insurance goal in the 78th minute when he found himself all alone outside the penalty box. Lloyd’s shot from 25 yards beat Visser into the upper left corner at 77:01.
DePaul’s Jeff DeGroot countered with the best opportunity of the second half for DePaul as his header hit the crossbar with just over 10 minutes left in the match.
Visser finished the afternoon four saves in goal for the Blue Demons while VanOekel totaled five saves.
The Blue Demons host Illinois-Chicago in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon. Kickoff at Wish Field is scheduled for 3 p.m. DePaul travels to St. John’s next weekend for a Saturday night match.