PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers has made a habit of scoring early in games all season. The Scarlet Knights did it again Tuesday night against Yale, tallying a pair of goals in the first 26 minutes en route to a 5-2 victory at Yurcak Field.

The Bulldogs scored twice in the second half to stay within striking distance but were never able to pull within one goal.

Ollie Iselin and Kyle Kenagy had the Yale goals. For Iselin, it was his second of the season, while Kenagy now has a team-leading three goals.

The Scarlet Knights (5-4-1) were coming off a frustrating 2-0 Big Ten loss to Penn State on Saturday. Rutgers fell despite outshooting the Nittany Lions 20-8 and holding a 9-1 edge in corner kicks.

RU was much more efficient against the Bulldogs. Jason Wright got the Scarlet Knights on the board on just their second shot of the game when he fired a shot into the top corner from the top of the box less than eight minutes in.

Wright struck again at 25:39 when he deflected in a Mitchell Taintor cross.

JP Correa made it 3-0 early in the second half when he scored from six yards out at 48:54.

The Bulldogs, though, refused to go away quietly. Iselin headed in a Theo Miller free kick at 53:09 and then had a chance to pull Yale within one a few minutes later, but saw his header off a corner kick go high.

Correa’s second goal of the game at 65:44 was the backbreaker.

Still, Yale kept it interesting. Miller tallied his second assist, again off a free kick, when he sent a ball toward goal that Kenagy was able to get his head on and put past Rutgers goalkeeper David Greczek at the 71 minute mark.

Wright, though, completed his hat trick and capped the scoring at 74:29.

“This was a good learning experience for our team against a very athletic and explosive Rutgers team,” said Kylie Stannard, the 5K Corral Head Coach of the Bulldogs. “That's a team that beat Indiana 4-1 on the road, and I thought we competed very well at times. However, we don't schedule these games to get beat, and we weren't good enough defensively. Our goal is to beat these teams and this is the level that we aspire to be.

“It was another overall solid performance where we can take some more positives. We scored two goals off restarts today so it's nice to see some of that training starting to pay off.”

The Bulldogs return to Ivy League play on Saturday when they host Dartmouth at 4 p.m. at Reese Stadium.

“This [Rutgers] was a good game to prepare us for Dartmouth as they are probably the most athletic team in the Ivy League and our guys know we have to be much better defensively if we are going to win games,” Stannard said.

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