Rutgers came to Washington, D.C., with a clean sheet from Thursday and left Shaw Field with a different kind of reality check: No. 5 Georgetown had the run of play for most of Sunday night and beat the Scarlet Knights 2-1, with Rutgers not finding the net until the clock hit 90:00.
That late Charlie Kitch finish was Rutgers’ first goal of the 2026 season, but it only trimmed the final margin after Georgetown had already done the damage. The Hoyas opened the scoring in the 27th minute through Matthew Van Horn, then got the winner from Zayan Ahmed in the 86th after a long stretch in which Rutgers spent much of the match defending.
Rafa Ponce de Leon, making his Rutgers debut, kept the Scarlet Knights within striking distance for long stretches. He made three saves Thursday in the 0-0 opener at American, and he was busy again against Georgetown, finishing with several stops that prevented the match from getting away earlier.
Rutgers, though, never really matched Georgetown’s volume. The Scarlet Knights managed only one shot on target in the first half and were outshot 8-4 before the break.
Georgetown wasted no time asserting itself. Terrance Reynolds tested Ponce de Leon in the sixth minute, then again in the 14th, and Aidan Godinho added another chance in the 17th. The woodwork also played a role on both sides: Mateo Ponce Ocampo hit the right post in the seventh, William Pierce hit that same post in the 18th for Rutgers’ best first-half chance, and Ponce Ocampo later struck the crossbar in the 24th.
The breakthrough came in the 27th minute, when Matthew Van Horn finished low to the right off an assist from Matthew Helfrich. Rutgers had little going forward after that. Amer Lukovic did send one effort high from near midfield right after the restart, but Georgetown kept pushing and then emptied its attack in the 33rd minute with a quadruple substitution that removed Reynolds, Ponce Ocampo, Van Horn and Godinho.
At halftime, Georgetown led in shots, shots on goal and corners, while Rutgers had already piled up seven fouls. Ponce de Leon was the reason the deficit stayed at one.
The second half began with more pressure from Georgetown, as Van Horn forced another save just seven seconds after the restart. Rutgers had a better spell later in the half, with Lukovic active throughout.
He had a shot blocked in the 56th minute and forced Charlie DeMarco into saves in the 77th and 80th off Rutgers corners. Francesco Di Ponzio also had a shot blocked in the 59th.
Even so, Georgetown kept finding chances. Eric Howard put one over the bar in the 65th, then Howard and Mitchell Baker both forced saves in the 71st minute. Simon Gorczowski picked up the match’s only card seconds later.
Georgetown finally put it away in the 86th minute. Zayan Ahmed, on the field for only 102 seconds after entering for Terrance Reynolds at 84:36, finished low to the right off a Mitchell Baker assist to make it 2-0.
Rutgers’ late consolation came on the final play. A throw-in at 89:26 turned into a corner at 89:50, and Kitch finished low center at 90:00. He had entered in the 71st minute as part of a six-player Rutgers substitution wave and needed just one shot to get the Scarlet Knights on the board.
Rutgers returns home for a five-game homestand that begins Friday against Sacred Heart and continues with Seton Hall on Sept. 4, UC Santa Barbara on Labor Day, UCLA on Sept. 11 and Princeton on Sept.
- The Scarlet Knights head back to New Jersey at 0-1-1, with one goal in 180 minutes and a defense that has faced 21 shots through two matches.
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