PISCATAWAY, N.J. (September 7, 2014) – It was a tale of two halves between the Rutgers men’s soccer team and Hofstra on Sunday afternoon at Yurcak Field. While the Scarlet Knights controlled the game’s first 45 minutes, it was the Pride ending the game with a 3-1 victory.

Rutgers fell to 2-2 on the year in wrapping up a four-game homestand to kick off the season. Hofstra captured its first win and improved to 1-1-2.

“It’s a little disappointing,” said head coach Dan Donigan. “I told our players that we are getting opportunities and we are getting chances, but need to capitalize on them. (Hofstra) is a very good, composed and mature team and they made us pay when we made mistakes. It was a great first half, a poor second half. I thought we did really well in the first half, but we have to consistently perform like that.”

First half action saw the Scarlet Knights in control and spending a majority of time in Pride territory. While RU did not manage to find the back of the net in the game’s first 45 minutes, the Scarlet Knights had numerous looks at the Pride net and entered the intermission outshooting their opponent, 15-5, and holding a 9-1 advantage in corners.

Ten minutes into the game, Rutgers had one of its best opportunities as junior Rayon Gibbs (Jackson, Miss.) forward drew out Hofstra netminder Patric Pray. As Gibbs dribbled straight on into the box, Pray slid to save the oncoming shot with the rebound landing at the feet of RU leading scorer Jason Wright (Kingston, Jamaica). Wright’s shot, however, hit the post to keep the game scoreless.

Momentum changed as Hofstra broke the stalemate early in the second half with Joseph Holland setting up the first of three Pride scores. Holland had a takeaway at midfield less than four minutes into the second stanza and found Maid Memic, who was just able to beat the Rutgers defense at the top of the box for the score.

The Pride went up 2-0 in the 72^nd minute off a corner kick. Holland, on the insert, connected with Daniel Gundei at the right post for the header.

Holland captured his third assist of the day in the 84^th minute. The Pride sophomore midfielder controlled the ball along with left sideline, dribbled through the RU defense to the top of the box. Holland passed the ball off to Rory Murphy along the goal line to the left of the net where his shot crossed the front of the Scarlet Knight cage and into the right corner for a 3-0 Hofstra lead. 

Rutgers avoided the shutout by getting onto the scoreboard two minutes later. Wright, under pressure along the left goal line, cleared the ball out to sophomore midfielder Erik Sa (Watchung, N.J.), who sent a blast from 18 yards out into the top right corner.

The Rutgers men’s soccer team returns to action in their first Big Ten contest. RU will travel to Wisconsin on Friday, Sept. 12. The contest with the Badgers will air live on BTN at 8 p.m. (EST).

KNIGHT NOTES

• The Rutgers men’s soccer team fell to the Hofstra Pride for the second straight season. The all-time series now stands at 13-6.
• The Scarlet Knights outshot the Pride, 20-17. It was the most shots by the Scarlet Knights since recording 20 against Villanova in a 3-2 victory on Oct. 24, 2012. Rutgers has outshot three of its four opponents to date.
• Erik Sa captured his first goal of the 2014. It was his second career goal. The sophomore midfielder now has six points (2G, 2A) in his career.
• After opening the season scoring RU’s first three goals, freshman forward Jason Wright captured his first career assist.
• Goalkeeper David Greczek made seven saves in the loss, his 12^th career game and second of the season with five or most stops. He currently has 127 career saves in 24 games played.

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-RU-