PISCATAWAY, N.J.  (October 5, 2013) – Sophomore Mitchell Taintor’s (Storrs, Conn.) goal in the 64^th minute of play helped lift the Rutgers men’s soccer team back into the win column in a 1-0 American Athletic Conference (AAC) win over Cincinnati Saturday night at Yurcak Field.

Rutgers improved to 5-5-1 overall and 2-1-0 in AAC action.  Cincinnati, meanwhile, dropped to 3-7-11 overall and fell to 0-3-0 in league play.

After playing to a 0-0 stalemate in the first half, the RU offense turned it up in half number two.  The Scarlet Knights controlled the ball much of the half and outshot the Bearcats, 12-5, in the second stanza.  Of the five Cincinnati shots, three were saved by freshman goalkeeper David Greczek (Fairfield, N.J.) while the other two went wide of the net.

Taintor’s goal came off a Scarlet Knight corner kick with classmate Mael Corboz (Green Brook, N.J.) sending the cross to the front of the net.  Taintor managed to lose the Cincinnati defender marking him and as everyone scrambled in the box on the Corboz kick, Taintor was able to control the ball off his chest and send it into the back of the Bearcat goal. 

For Taintor it was his second goal of the season.  Corboz landed his fourth assist of the year and brought his total to 14 points on the season.

Greczek ended the night with four saves, while his counterpart, Alex Gill, made three saves in the loss.

In all, RU outshot Cincinnati, 16-10, and held a 4-3 edge in corners.

“We broke the film down after the Hofstra game and we went through the finer details of where I thought we slipped up,” said head coach Dan Donigan on returning back to the win column following a 3-0 loss to Hofstra on Wednesday. “The three things I saw were kind of general – it was having execution, having effort and making good decisions with the ball.  If you can perform day-in and day-out with the effort, energy, proper decision making and the execution, I think we give ourselves a good chance every time we come out.”

Also adding to the victory were several members of Rutgers alumni in attendance as the Scarlet Knights celebrate 75 years of men’s soccer.

“This isn’t the program that it is without the foundation that they laid,” said Donigan.  “They are very meaningful for us and we are forever indebted to them.  Tonight’s win was definitely for our alumni and those guys who were able to get out here tonight.”

The Rutgers men’s soccer team returns to action in a pair of tough AAC road tests.  The Scarlet Knights travel #24 Connecticut on Wednesday, Oct. 9 and face #17 Louisville on Saturday, Oct. 12.

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-RU-