Rutgers Men's Lacrosse Announces Schedule
Oct 17 | Men's Lacrosse
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers University men's lacrosse head coach Jim Stagnitta has released the 2008 schedule for the Scarlet Knights. The slate includes match-ups against five 2007 NCAA Tournament teams, including Final Four participant Delaware.
"Our schedule is always a challenge and this year is no exception with the addition of UMBC," said Stagnitta. "Our goal is to be prepared, to compete and hit the ground running in the spring."
RU will open up with a scrimmage against Hofstra on Saturday, Feb. 9, in Hempstead, N.Y. The Scarlet Knights will then play a three-match home stand against UMBC, Delaware, and Fairfield. Delaware and UMBC met in the quarterfinals of the 2007 NCAA Tournament with the Blue Hens prevailing, 10-6. Delaware then fell to eventual National Champions John's Hopkins in the semifinals. The match-up with Fairfield will be RU's first Eastern College Athletic Conference game.
On Saturday, March 15, Rutgers will travel to Dallas, Texas to take on Army before returning home to continue ECAC play against Hobart on Friday, March 21. On Tuesday, May 25, the Scarlet Knights will travel to Princeton to take on the Tigers, who are coming off a 10-4 record in 2007 and an overtime loss to Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament.
RU will return home for back-to-back games against St. John's and Manhattan before heading back on the road to take on a tough Loyola squad that also reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
In the Scarlet Knights final non-conference match-up of the year, they will host Syracuse on Saturday, April 12. The final three games of the year will all be in the ECAC against Penn State on April 20, at home against Georgetown on April 26, and at Massachusetts to conclude the regular season on May 3.
"The ECAC year in and year out is one of the most competitive conferences in the country," said Stagnitta. "Our traditional out of conference games vs. Princeton, Army, Delaware and Syracuse combined with the ECAC teams makes for a competitive spring and hopefully a high strength of schedule. It will certainly keep us focused throughout the spring."
The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 2007 season in which they finished ranked 18th in the USILA Poll and 19th in Nike/Inside Lacrosse polls. RU ended with a 7-6 overall record and posted a 4-3 mark in conference play. The Scarlet Knights also went 4-0 in one-goal games and matched up against four nationally ranked teams.
In individual accolades, three players earned All-ECAC honors, highlighted by Justin Pennington's Rookie of the Year award. Pennington had one of the most successful rookie campaigns in recent Rutgers history, scoring 19 goals, good for second-best on the team, and eight assists, also the second-highest total for Rutgers. Defender Chris O'Dougherty was named to the All-ECAC Second Team, after helping hold opponents under 10 goals in six games this season, including three-straight contests from March 31-April 7.
| DATE | OPPONENT | LOCATION | TIME |
| Saturday, February 2 | ALUMNI GAME | RU Turf Field | 1:00 PM |
| Saturday, February 9 | Hofstra (SCRIMMAGE) | Hempstead, N.Y. | TBA |
| Saturday, February 16 | STONY BROOK (SCRIMMAGE) | RU Turf Field | 11:00 AM |
| Saturday, February 16 | PENN (SCRIMMAGE) | RU Turf Field | 12:30 AM |
| Saturday, February 23 | UMBC | RU Turf Field | 1:00 PM |
| Saturday, March 1 | DELAWARE | RU Turf Field | 1:00 PM |
| Saturday, March 8 | FAIRFIELD | RU Turf Field | 1:00 PM |
| Saturday, March 15 | Army | Dallas, Texas | TBA |
| Friday, March 21 | HOBART | RU Turf Field | 7:00 PM |
| Tuesday, March 25 | Princeton | Princeton, N.J. | 7:00 PM |
| Saturday, March 29 | ST. JOHN'S | Yurcak Field | 1:00 PM |
| Wednesday, April 2 | MANHATTAN | Yurcak Field | 7:00 PM |
| Saturday, April 5 | Loyola | Baltimore, Md. | 1:00 PM |
| Saturday, April 12 | SYRACUSE | Yurcak Field | 2:00 PM |
| Sunday, April 20 | Penn State | State College, Pa. | 1:00 PM |
| Saturday, April 26 | GEORGETOWN | Yurcak Field | 1:00 PM |
| Saturday, May 3 | Massachusetts | Amherts, Mass. | 1:00 PM |
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Home games in CAPS **ECAC game | |||
