#23 Men’s Soccer Blanks #25 UCLA 2-0 to Reach the Big Ten Semifinals

SEATTLE, Wash. — Joshua Jerome had been on the field for 83 seconds when he scored. Matty Lynch had been on for 145.That was all Rutgers needed. The third-seeded Scarlet Knights beat sixth-seeded UCLA 2-0 in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon at Husky Soccer Stadium. Rafael Ponce de Leon made five saves for Rutgers’ sixth clean sheet of the season, and it was the program’s first Big Ten Tournament win since they lifted the trophy at Yurcak Field in 2022.Rutgers came west at 8-6-2, 6-3-1 in the Big Ten and No. 23 in the country, back in the conference tournament for the first time since 2023 after finishing third in the league. They closed the regular season with a 4-1 win at No. 8 Michigan State on Oct. 30, when Amer Lukovic scored twice and Ponce de Leon saved a penalty with four minutes left, and on Tuesday the Big Ten named Ponce de Leon its Goalkeeper of the Week. The Scarlet Knights had already beaten UCLA once, 3-1 at Yurcak in the Big Ten opener on Sept. 11, a night when the Bruins scored in the third minute and did not put another shot on target. Sunday’s win was Rutgers’ second over UCLA in 58 days.UCLA arrived 9-3-5 and 4-3-3 in the Big Ten, ranked No. 25, and nearly did not arrive at all. The Bruins started the final day of the regular season seventh on 12 points with six teams qualifying, then beat No. 6 Washington 1-0 on Wednesday when Diego Castano scored from beyond midfield, his team-leading eighth goal of the year, and got the rest of what they needed from Northwestern’s win over Wisconsin. Ryan Jorden’s side were also the defending champions. As a four seed a year ago, UCLA won 2-0 at No. 1 Maryland and beat Michigan 5-0 in the final, and in October 2025 they had beaten Rutgers 5-2 in Westwood. Castano and Jaime Amaro, the Spaniard who transferred in from Bryant and has six goals and five assists this fall, carry the attack.Castano started Sunday on the bench.Ponce de Leon did not have to make a save the last time these teams met.He made five on Sunday.LineupGK: Rafael Ponce de LeonD: Simon Gorczowski, Devon Stopek, Nick Collins, Hector CriadoM: Pius Ssebulime, Zach Mastrodimos, William Pierce, Amer Lukovic, Francesco Di PonzioF: Dan KarstenSubs: Thomas Angelone, Erick Ruiz, Joshua Jerome, Braxton Montgomery, Matty LynchMcElderry sent out the same eleven for a fourth straight match. The half-hour change came in pieces this time. Thomas Angelone replaced Dan Karsten at 28:19, and at 30:50 Erick Ruiz went on for William Pierce and Jerome for Francesco Di Ponzio. Eighty-three seconds later Ruiz had an assist and Jerome had a goal. Braxton Montgomery replaced Lukovic at 39:17, which left four starters on the bench at the break, and McElderry then sent Di Ponzio back on for Jerome and Lynch on for Montgomery, whose first shift lasted 5 minutes and 43 seconds. Di Ponzio set up Lynch 145 seconds later. Lukovic came back on for Lynch at 60:53, and Jerome and Montgomery returned together at 75:27 for Ruiz and Angelone.Seven Scarlet Knights went the full 90 with Ponce de Leon, Simon Gorczowski, Devon Stopek, Nick Collins, Hector Criado, Pius Ssebulime and Zach Mastrodimos, two more than in East Lansing. McElderry used five substitutes for nine changes, and 16 players saw the field.Jorden churned on the other bench. Shakir Nixon, the defender on the Hermann Trophy midseason watch list, went off for Logan Hall at 23:44 and was back on 38 seconds later. Castano replaced Oliver Roche at 27:03, and at 39:17 Jorden made a triple change with David de la Vibora on for Zach Neuls, Philip Naef for Finot Pie and Adrian Aguilar for Ander Marticorena. Neuls came back at halftime for Mathis Richter, who had been booked at 18:52, Pie returned at 72:45 with Tamir Ratoviz on for Allan Legaspi, and Roche came back for Aguilar at 78:29. Jorden used six substitutes in all.For once, the triple change came from the other bench.UCLA Starts Fast, but Rutgers ScoresUCLA had the better of the opening 15 minutes. Rutgers won a corner at 1:20 that went nowhere, Collins fouled Nixon at 1:51, and from 9:11 to 12:50 the Bruins took four shots and won two corners. Roche forced Ponce de Leon into a save at the bottom left at 9:11, Marticorena and Roche had attempts blocked at 10:40 and 12:28, and Neuls aimed one at the bottom left corner at 12:50 that Ponce de Leon kept out as well.Then UCLA went quiet. Richter was booked for unsporting behavior at 18:52, and 25 seconds later Rutgers finally shot, Karsten off target at 19:17. Karsten had another blocked at 23:16 and fouled Neuls at 25:17, and Legaspi put UCLA’s fifth attempt off target at 26:39 after a corner. Jorden sent Castano on at 27:03, and at 28:19 Karsten was on the bench with two shots, a foul and 28 minutes.The goal came straight out of the change. Ruiz and Jerome went on at 30:50, Gorczowski forced Tristan Shaw into a save at the bottom right 38 seconds later, Rutgers won a corner at 31:41, and at 32:13 Jerome finished bottom right with his right foot off assists from Ruiz and Lukovic. It was his only shot of the afternoon.In Columbus, his winner had been his only shot of the night, too.The rest of the half was mostly whistles at Rutgers’ end. Ruiz fouled Marticorena at 34:12, Amaro dragged an attempt off target at 38:43, and at 39:17 both benches moved at once, Montgomery on for Lukovic and Jorden’s three changes on the other side. Montgomery fouled Castano at 41:00, and Angelone had the last shot of the half blocked at 44:42.At the break UCLA led the shots 6-5, and the corners were 3-3. Both teams had put two on target, and only Rutgers had scored with one of theirs. Rutgers had also committed six fouls to UCLA’s one.UCLA had not tested Ponce de Leon since 12:50.Lynch Doubles the Lead, and Ponce de Leon Does the RestJorden brought Neuls back on for Richter at the break. McElderry restored Di Ponzio and sent on Lynch, whose first career start came against UCLA as a freshman in 2024. At 47:25, Di Ponzio found him, and Lynch finished bottom left with his right foot.It was 2-0, and Lynch had been on the field for 145 seconds.Rutgers kept coming. Di Ponzio forced Shaw into a save at the bottom left at 48:21, de la Vibora had UCLA’s first attempt of the half blocked at 49:55, Ssebulime put one off target at 51:16, and Lynch made Shaw work again at the bottom right at 53:05 before a Rutgers corner at 53:14. That was four Rutgers shots in the first eight minutes of the half, three of them on target.Then it got scrappy. Castano, Criado, Angelone and Henry Jeffcott all committed fouls between 55:36 and 59:41, Di Ponzio put a shot off target at 60:37, and 16 seconds later Lynch was gone, with Lukovic back on after 21 minutes on the bench. Lynch played 16 minutes, took two shots, put both on target and scored once.UCLA’s best spell started at 64:52, when de la Vibora put an attempt toward the bottom center and Ponce de Leon saved it. Aguilar shot off target at 67:54, Lukovic answered with one off target at 71:10 and one Shaw saved at 71:58, and Jorden sent Pie and Ratoviz on at 72:45. Castano, the eight-goal man, got his only shot of the afternoon away at 73:55 and put it off target. Ratoviz fouled Di Ponzio at 75:16 and was booked three seconds later, 2:34 after coming on. McElderry sent Jerome and Montgomery back on at 75:27, and Di Ponzio was booked for unsporting behavior at 76:40.The last 10 minutes belonged to UCLA, and to Ponce de Leon. Amaro forced a save at the bottom right at 81:54. Lukovic had a shot blocked at 83:19 and fouled 26 seconds later, the fourth of his five fouls on an afternoon he also picked up his eighth assist of the season. Hall put one toward the bottom left at 86:33 and Ponce de Leon saved that too, Naef had an attempt blocked at 87:40, and UCLA won its only corner of the half at 89:30 with the clock all but gone. Nothing came out of this corner of course, as Rutgers held on to the shutout.Rutgers stays in Seattle for Wednesday’s semifinal against No. 2 seed Washington, the defending national champion, at 9 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. It is the same field where the Huskies beat Rutgers 4-1 on Sept. 25. Top seed Indiana hosts the other semifinal, and the final is Sunday, Nov. 15, on the home field of the highest remaining seed, with the Big Ten’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid going to the winner. A second win in Seattle would put Rutgers in a Big Ten final for the first time since 2022.The season numbers now read 9-6-2 overall, with 228 shots and 33 goals for a conversion rate of 14.5 percent, 99 shots on goal, 94 corners, 222 fouls, 32 yellow cards and no red cards. Rutgers is 6-4 against ranked opponents and has kept six clean sheets. Ponce de Leon has made 55 saves and conceded 18 goals across 17 matches, five of those saves and none of those goals coming Sunday.The last time Rutgers left Husky Soccer Stadium, they had lost 4-1.This time they aren’t leaving.The Ranked Reapers took another victim to the boneyard, and the next one already lives in Seattle.