PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Rutgers women’s soccer emerged from Sunday’s home opener against Buffalo with a 2-1 win. It isn’t is a surprise that the result, given the narrow score line, was very much in doubt for a good portion of the match.
In fact, No. 3 Rutgers (4-0-0) went down midway through the first half when Jasmine Guerber, very much against the run of play, scored for Buffalo (2-1-0). The Guerber goal gave Buffalo the lead at halftime as Rutgers looked uncharacteristically sloppy and played slow.
All that changed in the opening minute of the second half when Riley Tiernan, lurking at the back post, put away a Kylie Daigle cross. Then in the 55th minute, Allison Lowery got the go-ahead goal.
On the left side of the penalty area, Lowery created a bit of space to get the ball on her favored right foot. She sent a perfectly placed shot back post, tucking it neatly past.
It proved the winner for Rutgers, who won the Big Ten regular season last year and finished third in the final rankings.
If at first you don’t succeed …#WeNeverStop /// #ForeverRutgers pic.twitter.com/P95dY0Ebqe
— RUTGERS WOMEN’S SOCCER (@RUWSoccer) August 28, 2022
Three things we learned from Rutgers women’s soccer win over Buffalo:
Riley Tiernan is that good – The Big Ten Freshmen of the Year in 2021, Tiernan has plenty of untapped potential that she hasn’t yet shown. On Sunday, Tiernan showed sustained poise on the ball in the second half. She combined her pace with some tremendous 1 v. 1 moments. Her equalizer just 42 seconds into the second half set the tone for Rutgers. She has the potential to be the best Rutgers women’s soccer player since Carli Lloyd.
Upgraded out of conference schedule – In their season opener, Rutgers beat a New Mexico side that is the favorite to win the Mountain West Conference. Now on Sunday, they battled and scrapped against a Bulls program that went 13-4-3 a season ago and has a legitimate shot to make the NCAA Tournament. These are two quality wins for the Scarlet Knights as they look to not just build a postseason resume but test themselves ahead of the start of Big Ten play.
Rutgers answered an important question – In the first half, Rutgers was slow, perhaps the byproduct of starting the season with three start road games. Their movement was lacking, the midfield didn’t link with the attack in the right channels and the defensive breakdown, albeit to a beautiful goal from Guerber, was concerning. In the second…
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