Rutgers Men's Lacrosse Travels to No. 5/6 Princeton
Apr 12 | Men's Lacrosse
PRINCETON, N.J. (April 12, 2010) - The Rutgers men's lacrosse team will travel to in-state rival No. 5/6 Princeton Tuesday for a 7 p.m. contest at Class of 1952 Stadium.
The contest will be shown on Verizon FiOS1 through tape delay, but broadcast live through Princeton's Web site at goprincetontigers.com/VerizonFios1. Ralph Bednarczyk will be calling the play-by-play with National Lacrosse Hall of Famer Bob Rule on the color. Brittany Umar will be the sideline reporter.
The Scarlet Knights (5-4, 1-1) are looking to end a two-game skid against the Tigers (7-2, 3-0) after they fell 17-10 at Jacksonville last Saturday. Senior midfielder Justin Pennington (Flemington, N.J.) scored a team-high three goals against the Dolphins.
Princeton is coming off a 13-4 loss to Syracuse in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic at the New Meadowlands Stadium. The game was 3-2 in the second quarter before the Orange scored nine straight goals.
Princeton has won 21-straight games played at the Class of 1952 Stadium dating back to a 4-3 loss to Cornell in 2006.
Rutgers and Princeton have met 88 times during their history with Princeton owning a 55-29-3 advantage. Last season at Yurcak Field, Kory Kelly (Princeton, N.J.) tallied his third hat trick of the season, but No. 5 Princeton used a big second half run en route to defeating Rutgers, 13-6, on March 24. The Tigers went on a 8-2 second half spurt to claim the victory.
The game against Princeton will be Rutgers third against a ranked squad this season as they fell to No. 19/20 UMBC at home by a 6-5 score on Feb. 28 and knocked off No. 11/13 Notre Dame on the road by a 10-8 score on March 27.
The Princeton game will serve as Rutgers ninth-year head coach Jim Stagnitta's 299th game as a head coach. He will coach his 300th game this Sunday against No. 2/2 Syracuse on Yurcak Field.
"We are looking forward to getting right back on the field at Princeton," said Stagnitta "Hopefully, playing a quality team like Princeton will get our guys attention and get the focus back on the task at hand."
Pennington leads the Scarlet Knights in points (28) and assists (11). The three-time BIG EAST Weekly Honor Selection has scored a point in 18 straight games. Pennington ranks third in the conference in points per game (3.11) and fourth in the conference in goals (1.89) and assists per contest (1.22).
Kelly leads the squad in goals with 18 and ranks third in the league in goals per game (2.0). The six-foot-five attackman has scored a goal in eight of the nine games this season.
Redshirt-sophomore defender Andrew D'Agostino (Syracuse, N.J.) had a strong performance at Jacksonville last Saturday as he notched game-bests of six ground balls and four caused turnovers. The redshirt-sophomore defenseman is second on the team in ground balls (35) and caused turnovers (11).
Four Tigers are in doubles figures for goals this season - Mike Chanenchuk, Jeff Froccaro and Chris and Jack McBride. Jack McBride leads Princeton with 18 goals.
Following the Princeton battle, Rutgers will host No. 2/2 Syracuse at Yurcak Field this Sunday and it will be televised live on ESPNU at 6 p.m. GAME NOTES
