MLAX Season Preview
Feb 05 | Men's Lacrosse
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - For Rutgers athletics, the 2014-15 season will always be remembered as the first year of competition in the Big Ten Conference. As the 2015 lacrosse season gets underway, it represents the dawning of a new league overall. Rutgers will join Maryland, Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, and affiliate member John Hopkins as the Big Ten Conference will sponsor men's lacrosse for the first time.
"Lacrosse-wise, I think everyone in the current locker room right now is excited," head coach Brian Brecht said about the first year of Big Ten lacrosse. "Everyone who is an alum and was formerly in that locker room is excited. The players are working hard, the coaching staff is certainly putting pressure on themselves to game plan and put the guys in the position to be able to play to their potential and play to the best of their ability. I've been very pleased with how practices and the preseason have been going, and we're looking forward to starting off the 2015 season."
This seasons schedule boasts a host of challenges for the Scarlet Knights. Four of the six teams in the conference enter the season nationally ranked, with RU pegged fifth in the Big Ten preseason coaches' poll. Coach Brecht has put together a schedule that will both challenge the squad and prepare them for Big Ten play. In nonconference action, Rutgers will face No. 9 Virginia, No. 20 Army and a number of other challenging teams.
"No doubt, Big Ten lacrosse is big time lacrosse," Brecht said. "We're going be tested in the Big Ten, and in order to get us ready for Big Ten lacrosse we need a very competitive national out-of-conference schedule. I think we've done that, both with local rivalries, starting off with St. Johns, Army, Princeton and Stony Brook, but also with being able to play teams like Delaware and Virginia. Those games are going to help us get ready for the competition and the battles we're going to have on game day in the Big Ten Conference."
CAPTAINS
Rutgers will be led this season by four team captains who will be important leaders for this year's squad: Scott Bieda, Nick Capparelli, Brian Goss, and Joe Nardella. Those four veterans will be essential to the team's success.
"You've got four key guys," Brecht noted. "You've got a starter on the attack, who's our leading returning scorer, former all Big-East player last year as a sophomore, and basically the quarterback and the glue of the offense in Scott Bieda. Brian Goss, who's been a four-year starter at the mid-field, four-year starter on man up, three-time captain, and the leader in a true two-way midfielder that's going to play on the first midfield, and play defensive midfield, and be on the wings of face-offs. Joe Nardella, has been a four-year starter and one of the better face-off guys in the country over the last three years, and with all-conference honors the last two years, and being a captain for two years now, he certainly has been the face of our program and allowed us to have a lot of the successes we've had as we've grown. Nick Capperelli transferred in, and started last year, and he's a captain this year for us, with a young defense.
All four of them are going to play key roles in their respective positions offensively and defensively, in not only the minutes the get on game day and the match-ups they're going to have, but the mentoring they're going to have to do with the young guys to bring them along as fast as we can as we grow through the season, getting ready for Big Ten action."
OFFENSE
In the attacking front, Rutgers is tasked with replacing a four year starter in Scott Klimchak, who graduated as the sixth-leading goal scorer in school history. RU will return two keys players in Bieda and Christian Trasolini. Bieda, a do-it-all attackman, tops all returners with 42 points last season, totaling 18 goals and 24 assists. One of the Big Ten's Preseason Players to Watch, the Bridgewater, N.J. native was a Second Team All- BIG EAST honoree in 2014 and a member of the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team. Trasolini is RU's leading returning goal-scorer, potting 27 goals to go with 13 assists while starting all 16 games of his freshman campaign.
Beyond the two returning starters, the Scarlet Knights bring back some scoring depth. Connor Murphy scored 16 goals and had 13 assists last season, while senior captain midfielder Brian Goss (16 goals) and midfielder Rich Rambo (13 goals) will also be counted upon. While searching for the right combinations, RU will also seek impact from newcomers including Jeff George, a transfer from UMass who scored 10 goals in 13 games, and talented freshmen such as Maplewood, N.J. product Jules Heningburg. Other players such as Christian Mazzone, Pat Carotenuto, and Collin Scarpello, will be counted on as well.
"Certainly losing Scott Klimchak, that's a lot of goals to replace," Coach Brecht explained. "We do have Christian Trasolini coming back as our leading returning goal-scorer along with Scott Bieda. It's going to be by committee, it's going to be more of a team effort and we're going to play a little differently. I think we're going to have to play to our strengths, and I think we do have some more guys that can spread the field and be able to maybe get the ball a little bit more to get a goal for Rutgers as opposed to relying on Scott to get all the big goals in big game situations."
DEFENSE
Defensively, Rutgers has two big players to replace in a four-year starter and captain Nick Contino and three-year starter and captain Andrew Parilla. Two players who will be counted upon to step are Capparelli and Branford Rodgers. Those two each split starting time last season, and should step into large roles this season. Beyond those two, RU possesses a number of options for a starting defensive spot.
"We do have some experience with Nick Capparelli, Branford Rogers, Chris Groel, and Zack Sikora coming back," Brecht explained. "We have four guys that have started, played a lot of minutes, but we do have some young guys that are going to have to play early in their careers- Alex Bronzo and Michael Rexrode are going to have to play early, and be ready for the challenges of Division I lacrosse and the Big Ten.
We're going to have to find our short stick defensive midfielders. We have some guys that had some experience last year, Charlie Nicklaus who sprinkled in a little bit with two seniors that graduated and then we do have some young guys, Austin Divitcos, Chad Tolliver, Christian Scarpello, that are extremely athletic and certainly can help us both on the offensive and defensive end of the field. We're going to have to get our best athletes on the field as much as possible to be able to make plays."
FACE-OFF
Joe Nardella gives the Scarlet Knights a huge boost at the faceoff circle. The senior was recently named a Preseason All-American by Inside Lacrosse Face-Off Yearbook and drafted 36th overall by the MLL's Boston Cannons in the 2015 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft. Last season, while earning Second Team all-conference honors for the second straight year, he posted an impressive .632 (206-of-326) face-off win percentage which ranked fifth nationally, and totaled 10 or more faceoff wins in 12 of the 14 games he played.
GOALTENDING
In the cage, Rutgers has multiple strong starting options. Kris Alleyne, the 2013 BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Year, has 26 career starts and holds a .558 career save percentage. Jake Andersen started four of the final five games of the 2014 season, and closed the season strong.
"I think that's been a battle all through the fall and it continues to be a battle in the preseason," Brecht said. "Having two juniors that have started games at this level competing, and with the emergence of our freshman Alex Larson, it's become a competitive battle and we're excited to see that every day in practice."
FRESHMEN
The Scarlet Knights graduated 14 seniors from last season's squad. RU will look for an influx of incoming talent to step up this season, including a 14-member freshman class and several key transfers.
"I think impact-wise, they do bring a lot of team speed, a lot of athletic ability, and a skill set to be able to play at this level. Obviously, they're going to learn on the job with the experience of playing on game day, and the more competitive we can be in practice, the more situations we can give them in practice to prepare them for game day, the better we're going to be.
I truly feel that with such a young team, and the experience they're going to get in our not-league games leading up to the Big Ten, I'm confident that we'll be a better program halfway through the year heading into Big Ten lacrosse, than we are to start out, just because we're going to have so much experience and challenges with our schedule early on that are going to help us get ready for league play."
OUTLOOK
Between departed seniors, a new league, and a tough schedule, there are multiple obstacles to overcome for this year's team. With a determined work ethic and focus on achieving their goals, the Scarlet Knights are set up for success in the first year of Big Ten lacrosse.
"Our goals are to prepare well during the week, understand our opponent, understand our strengths and the game plan that the coaches put together to allow us to have success," Brecht said. "We need to go out for the 60 minutes that we're given and execute. It's not as much physically, but it's also mentally being in the right spots, having the right timing, having the right communication, and then physically executing all the things that we need to do to perform the task at hand - offensively, defensively, and in between the lines."
