NEW YORK — The Columbia men's soccer team was bitten by a late goal in each half and fell on the road to Rutgers, 2-0, Wednesday night at Yurcak Field.
Columbia (1-2-1) withstood pressure well on the defensive end for the better part of the night but found itself down a goal at the half. The opportunity came from a deflected pass played across the field that was misplayed in Columbia's own half. Rutgers (2-3-1) capitalized courtesy of Jackson Temple, who picked up the loose ball, took two touches toward goal and fired a left-footed curler from the top of the box that sailed perfectly inside the far post.
After withstanding more pressure through the early minutes of the second half, Columbia generated some opportunities to score but never broke through. The best chance came in the 84th minute when Adrien Wheaton-Schopp gained possession down the near touchline. He played a perfect cross to the far post for Joao Lima, who just couldn't time his leaping header correctly and floated his shot on top of the net.
Rutgers sealed away the game in the final minute, scoring on the counter with the Lions sending men forward.
"It's tough to come away with a 2-0 loss but I'm just really proud of the guys for their effort today," Columbia head coach Michael Casper said. "I thought they put in a real strong performance in terms of what they gave and how hard they worked … We've got to do a little bit better with a number of things, and we're still trying to learn and grow in this early part of the season, but when you play a team like Rutgers, who I thought was very good on the night, I thought we gave it everything we had and I'm proud of them."
Senior goalkeeper Michael Collodi made a season-high nine saves off 22 shots faced. It was one save shy from his career-high of 10 against Dartmouth from the 2021 season. He did his best to keep Columbia alive, making some highlight-worthy stops early on to keep things scoreless and again in the second half to keep the Lions within striking distance.
"I thought Michael was terrific," said Casper on his goalkeeper's performance. "He was really important for us with a number of good saves. We just know with him back there that we've got a chance to win every game. He's been a really strong performer for us and I know that's going to continue. The guys believe in him – we believe in him – and we're going to need him to be really strong down the stretch for us."
After withstanding some initial pressure early on and a dazzling save by Collodi, the Lions had a golden opportunity to score in the 10th minute. Joao Lima, who earned his first start of the season tonight, got free on the left side of the box and floated a shot across goal to the far corner that sailed just wide of the target.
It was the best opportunity of a half that saw the Scarlet Knights take 11 shots and force four saves from Collodi. Unfortunately, the Lions never put a shot on target all night, sending all eight of their attempts off the mark. Rutgers keeper Ciaran Dalton earned the shutout without making a single save.
The Lions head back to New York City to regroup for an in-state battle against LIU (3-3-0) on Saturday. First kick from LIU Soccer Park out on Long Island is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET. The game can be viewed live on NEC Front Row.
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