PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 10/11 Rutgers men's lacrosse (2-0) continues its season Saturday by taking to the road for the first time, travelling for a game at No. 12/13 Army West Point (2-0) at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The ranked battle will be streamed by the Patriot League Digital Network.
The matchup is the second longest played series in Rutgers program history, as these two squads will face off for the 81
st time. Army holds the 56-23-1 series lead in a series that started in 1923. Rutgers has won the last two matchups and three of the last four. Last season in Piscataway,
Jules Heningburg led the team with three goals and
Max Edelmann made 15 saves in a 12-10 victory.
"This is one of the longest running rivalries that Rutgers lacrosse has," head coach
Brian Brecht explained. "It's a game that's always highly contested. It's been a one or two goal game in all the time I've been here. I expect this to be biggest challenge thus far in the early part of the season."
The Scarlet Knights stayed unbeaten last week with a 12-8 win over St. John's. Heningburg led RU with four goals, while
Casey Rose added three scores. Sophomore
Kieran Mullins got going with two goals of his own. Edelmann made nine saves, while redshirt freshman LSM
Garrett Bullett had a team-high four ground balls. Freshman
Tommy Coyne, an early enrollee, made his first career start at attack and had his first career point with an assist. Sophomore
Owen Mead also had his first career goal.
On the season, the returning All-Americans pace stat categories as Heningburg leads the team with five goals and 11 points, while defenseman
Michael Rexrode has two caused turnovers. A trio of midfielders in
Casey Rose (five),
Christian Trasolini, and
Christian Mazzone (three) are next on the goal scorers list.
Alex Schoen is 21-of-38 (.553) on faceoffs, as he looks to go against the Black Knights' John Rango (17-of-25, .680).
Army has opened the season with consecutive wins, downing UMass 18-6 and NJIT on Tuesday 14-5. In goal, AJ Baretto was the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week after the opener, and maintains a .611 save percentage and 4.92 goals-against-average. Lost to graduation is attackman Cole Johnson (team-high 29 goals in 2017) and faceoff man Dan Grabher (62.8 percent), but the team returns its next four returning point scorers, including Nate Jones, who leads the team with six goals and eight points.
Rutgers is 18-64 all-time against ranked opponents. However, the Scarlet Knights have won six of their last 10 games against ranked foes. The last road win against a ranked team came at No. 11/13 Notre Dame on March 27, 2010. Rutgers has never beaten a ranked Black Knights squad in seven tries.
Tickets for the 2018 season are on sale through the Rutgers Ticket Office online or by calling
1-866-445-GORU (4678).
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