PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 9 Rutgers men's lacrosse (7-2) will host No. 6 Johns Hopkins (6-2) on Sunday night at 7 p.m in the Big Ten opener for both teams. The game will be televised nationwide on Big Ten Network, with Joe Beninati and Mark Dixon on the call.
 
"We're in a good spot right now," head coach Brian Brecht said. 'We have to take care of ourselves. We have to prepare hard, practice hard, prepare well during the week and be fundamentally sound."
 
Rutgers is 19-1 at home in its last 20 games. In that span, RU has defeated nine ranked teams and six Big Ten teams. The only loss came in triple overtime in 2017 to then-No. 3 and future national champion Maryland. 
 
"It's exciting to play in front of our home fans," Brecht said. "We have a great home field environment that these guys in this locker room have built and we want to continue that."
 
RU's seven wins include victories over three currently ranked teams - No. 10 Syracuse, No. 14 Robert Morris and No. 17 Lehigh. RU also defeated St. John's, who is receiving votes this week. The team is on a three-game winning streak that includes two ranked wins.
 
RU attackman Jules Heningburg ranks in the top-10 in the nation with 25 goals, 21 assists and 46 points. Freshman early enrollee Tommy Coyne had his second career hat trick versus Delaware and is fourth among Big Ten freshmen with 18 points. Sophomore Kieran Mullins shares second on the team with 16 goals alongside midfielders Christian Mazzone and Casey Rose. Heningburg and Mazzone were named Third Team Midseason All-Americans this week by Inside Lacrosse, while defenseman Michael Rexrode was pegged as an Honorable Mention All-American.
 
LSM Garrett Michaeli tied his career-high versus Delaware with three caused turnovers, owning the team high with 12 CT on the year, and also had two assists as part of RU's transition offense.
 
"These are the games you grow up watching," Michaeli said. "We're excited to play this game. It's going to be a good battle. We're going to go out there and play hard, play Rutgers lacrosse."
 
Rutgers coach Brian Brecht will be going for his 50th win at the helm of the Scarlet Knights.
 
JHU has the sixth best scoring offense in the nation at 13.25 goals per game. RU allows just 9.0 goals per game. The Hopkins offense is led by Shack Stanwick (13 goals, 17 assists), Kyle Marr (18 goals, 10 assists) and Cole Williams (19 goals), while Joel Tinney has added 17 assists and Connor DeSimone has posted 11 goals. Hunter Moreland was won 65 percent of his faceoffs, the 7th best mark in the nation. Between the pipes Brock Turnbaugh has a 9.10 GAA.
 
In the lifetime series, Johns Hopkins leads 32-6. RU has played Johns Hopkins four times in the past three years (since both programs joined the Big Ten), with each team winning twice. The first meeting in 2015 was the first ever Big Ten lacrosse game, attended by Commissioner Delaney. In 2016, RU won twice, downing the Blue Jays 16-9 in their last visit to Piscataway (in front of a then-record 3,653 fans), then winning 14-12 over Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals. In those four games, Heningburg has totaled 11 points (four goals and seven assists).

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