Rutgers Men's Lacrosse Closes out Regular Season at Providence
May 07 | Men's Lacrosse
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (May 7, 2010) - The Rutgers men's lacrosse team will close out the regular season this Sunday when it faces BIG EAST foe Providence in a 1 p.m. contest at Friar Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.
The Scarlet Knights (5-8, 1-4) look to snap a six-game skid against the Friars (0-13, 0-5). The meeting will mark the first time the two squads have faced each other.
Last Saturday, Rutgers fell by a 14-9 score at No. 15/14 Georgetown. Senior midfielder Gerhard Buehning (Essex Fells, N.J.) and sophomore attackman Kevin Hover (Belle Mead, N.J.) each registered a hat trick. Buehning also dished out an assist. The hat trick was Buehning's sixth of his career and third of the season and earned him a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
Providence fell to No. 13/12 Villanova at home last Saturday. The Friars held a 4-3 lead with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter, but the Wildcats scored six of the game's final seven goals to secure the victory. The Friars are led by 12th-year head coach Chris Burdick.
"My expectation this weekend is that our guys are going to do the same things they've done all year," said ninth-year Rutgers head coach Jim Stagnitta. "They are going to compete at a high level. Our practices have been good all year. There are no complaints about our effort; we've just struggled in discipline and execution. That's something that my best teams have always been good at but you have to make some concessions when you have these types of athletes and it's something that's missing right now."
Buehning leads RU in goals with 24 on the season and fired five in the back of the net over the past two games. The senior co-captain's 1.85 goals-per-game average ranks tied for third in the conference.
Senior midfielder Justin Pennington (Flemington, N.J.), who is one of three BIG EAST student-athletes up for the conference's midfielder of the year, leads Rutgers in points (36) and assists (14). The four-time BIG EAST Honor Roll selection has notched a point in 22-straight games.
Freshman attackman Duncan Clancy (Princeton, N.J.) got his first start of the season against the Hoyas and tallied a goal and assist. He is the only true freshman Scarlet Knight to play in every game this season.
The Scarlet Knights have held on to the ball well as they are a committing a BIG EAST low 16.00 turnovers per game. On the other end, RU is averaging 9.77 caused turnovers per contest; which ranks third in the league.
Jake Nola has a Providence-best 15 points on 12 assists and three goals. Goalie Christian Dzwilewski has started eight games for the Friars and owns a team-best 81 saves. GAME NOTES
