It’s all or nothing for the Rutgers men’s soccer team on Friday night against Washington. On a three-game losing streak, the Scarlet Knights (4-8-2, 1-5-1) must defeat the Huskies (6-4-5, 2-3-3) to keep their Big Ten Tournament hopes alive.
Rutgers is making the trip to Seattle for the first time in program history, but it is not unfamiliar with traveling to the West Coast. The Knights have played UCLA in Los Angeles four times in program history, the most recent being a 4-0 loss last season.
Washington has faced ups and downs in its first season in the Big Ten but has picked up ranked wins against Oregon State, Seattle and Northwestern, ranked No. 4, No. 11 and No. 20, respectively.
The Huskies had a difficult 2023 season. After winning its fourth-ever Pac-12 title in 2022, Washington finished second-to-last in the Pac-12, picking up just two wins and 10 points.
This season, the Huskies returned 61 percent of their goal scorers and 50 percent of their assists. Charlie Kosakoff and Peter Kingston each lead the team this season with 5 goals. Chris Meyers has totaled six assists on the season, tied for fourth-most in the Big Ten.
In goal, Jadon Bowton has started every game this season. He’s saved approximately 70 percent of shots this season, has a goals-against average of 1.13 and earned four shutouts. Washington’s defense as a whole has conceded 17 goals, the sixth-fewest in the conference.
Rutgers will face a tough match. It has only defeated the Huskies once in four meetings in 1994. The Knights have struggled on both sides of the ball, scoring the third-fewest goals in the Big Ten (17) and conceding the second-most goals in the conference (24).
Senior midfielder Curt Calov leads the team with 5 goals this season but has 1 goal in his last nine starts. Graduate student forward Ola Maeland has netted 3 goals but is on a six-game scoring drought.
After facing Washington, Rutgers will end the season with two tough matches, facing Maryland and Michigan State. The Terrapins (8-1-5, 5-0-2) are amid a historic season, undefeated in conference play and their last 12 matches. The Spartans (5-6-3, 4-3-1) sit fourth in the Big Ten and earned two ranked wins this season.
Friday night’s contest will begin at 10 p.m. at Husky Soccer Stadium and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.
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