PISCATAWAY, NJ – Freshman Sammy Castellanos (Philadelphia, PA) of the Rutgers University men’s soccer team was named the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week for the week ending Sunday, September 29, 2002. Castellanos played a pivotal role in RU’s 1-0-1 week, which included a 5-0 win over Villanova and a 1-1 tie with tenth-ranked Notre Dame.

On Wednesday, September 25, Castellanos registered a goal and three assists to lead RU to its biggest win of the season. He assisted on the first goal of game by Guy Abrahamson (Livingston, NJ) and, five minutes later, set up Steve Loverso (Warwick, NY). Castellanos closed out the half with a goal of his own to give the Scarlet Knights a 3-0 halftime advantage. He then set up the final score of the game, assisting on Sherif El Bialy’s (Cairo, Egypt) second tally.

On Sunday, Castellanos controlled play in the midfield and, at the 68:53 mark, registered an unassisted goal to give Rutgers a 1-0 advantage. Notre Dame would come back to tie the match and the two teams ended play in a 1-1 deadlock.

For the week, Castellanos collected seven points (two goals, three assists) and currently leads the team with nine points (3g, 3a).

Rutgers is idle until Friday, October 4, when it hosts #16 UCLA in the opening round of the Philips/adidas Soccer Classic, hosted at Yurcak Field. No. 2 St. John’s will meet Old Dominion at 6:00 p.m., while the RU/UCLA match is slated for an 8:00 p.m. start.