Reilly McGlinn bagged two goals, Tommi Valente and Lilia Calvert each added one, and Rutgers absolutely blew out Indiana 4-0 on Sunday afternoon. But here’s the kicker: this dominant win came too late, as the Scarlet Knights’ season was already done, officially ending Friday.
McGlinn Breaks the Goal Drought in Style
It’s been a rough patch, man. Rutgers had gone three straight matches, over 270 minutes of soccer, without finding the back of the net. McGlinn said “nah” to that streak, taking just ten minutes and 35 seconds to score her first, then adding another. This 4-0 thrashing at Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium, with just 476 fans watching, was their first win since October 8, a 3-2 result against Northwestern. This was only their second Big Ten road win all season, the first since Amanda Thornton’s 50th-minute goal secured a 1-0 victory over Oregon back on September 10. And get this: the Scarlet Knights’ five wins this year are already one more than they managed in all of 2025.
The Brutal Reality: Numbers That Crushed Playoff Hopes
While that 4-0 score is sweet, the lead-up to it was anything but. The week before this Indiana game was probably the worst stretch of the entire fall for Rutgers. They got shut out 1-0 at Penn State on October 17, then faced the No. 3 team in the nation, Ohio State, in Columbus on Thursday. That game was a nightmare: a 3-0 loss where Rutgers was outshot a ridiculous 16-1 in just the first half alone. Heading into Sunday, the Scarlet Knights were stuck in a four-way tie with 10 points, a full six points behind the eighth and final Big Ten Tournament spot. That 4-0 win? It couldn’t close the gap. By the end of the afternoon, the season was over.
Indiana was definitely the “get right” opponent, if there ever was one. The Hoosiers walked in at 4-10-2 overall and a dismal 1-8-1 in conference play, dead last out of 18 teams with a pathetic four points. Their tournament dreams? Toast, eliminated three days earlier in a 5-0 home shellacking by No. 22 Purdue. Purdue absolutely obliterated them, outshooting them 23-2 and even sending the Golden Boot trophy back to West Lafayette for the first time in four years. This was Indiana’s second 5-0 loss this season, and they hadn’t won a match in nine straight. Head coach Josh Rife’s second year here, and after ending 2025 three points shy of the tournament, they expected a step up. Instead, Indiana finished 0-6 at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Big Ten play, their home field. Sunday was their final home match.
Who Was On The Pitch, And Who Was Missing
Looking at the squad, Olivia Bodmer was in goal. The defense was Julia Joseph, Sophia Stiles, Morgan Hippeli, Lindsey Hailey, and Patricia Tsokos. Tommi Valente anchored the midfield. Upfront, it was Lilia Calvert, Reilly McGlinn, Ashley Baran, and Amanda Thornton leading the attack. Late in the game, Lauren Swafford subbed in for Bodmer at 82:48 for the final seven minutes and twelve seconds. Interestingly, one of their two captains, Gabriela Gil, didn’t play a single minute. Neither did transfer goalkeeper Iris de Rouw. Coach Rife wasn’t shy with the changes, making four substitutions at once early in the first half at 27:41, followed by two more just minutes later, hitting six changes inside three minutes and sixteen seconds of clock.
So, there it is. A huge 4-0 road win where Reilly McGlinn absolutely went off and snapped a brutal scoring slump. The team showed some real fight. But the numbers don’t lie: their season is done. It’s a tough pill to swallow after a performance like that.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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