MLAX Hosts No. 10 OSU for Senior Day
Apr 23 | Men's Lacrosse
| No. 10/11 Ohio State at Rutgers | |
| Date | Saturday, April 25, 2015 |
| Time | 12:00 p.m. ET |
| Location | Piscataway, N.J.| High Point Solutions Stadium |
| Television | ESPNU |
| Live Stats | |
| Game Notes | Rutgers | Ohio State |
| Flipcard | RU - OSU Flipcard |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets |
| RVision | Men's Lacrosse Intro Video |
| BTN Video | BTN Looks at Jules Heningburg |
| Rutgers Info | Quick Facts | Record Book |
| Statistics | Rutgers | Ohio State |
| Clips | Rutgers Helps Launch Beads of Courage Program |
| Social Media | @RUMLAx |Facebook/RutgersMLAX |
Rutgers Game Notes
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers welcomes No. 10/11 Ohio State to High Point Solution Stadium on Saturday afternoon for its regular season finale. The game will be Senior Day, as the Scarlet Knights will recognize nine seniors in a postgame ceremony, including captains Nick Capparelli, Brian Goss and Joe Nardella, as well as seniors Kevin Albert, Brian Lenskold, Joshua Matanin, Rich Rambo, Campbell Sode and Jacob Werman. The Scarlet Knights will also celebrate Alumni Appreciation Day, honoring the 1975 and 1990 Rutgers lacrosse teams, in addition to the 204 Rutgers All-Americans. The game will be the White Out and Youth Day. The game will be televised by ESPNU, with Mark Dixon and Ryan Boyle serving as announcers.
The Buckeyes will be the sixth ranked opponent Rutgers faces this season, and the fifth top-ten opponent to visit Piscataway this season. Five of the six ranked contests have been within two goals, with Rutgers holding a second half lead in four of those games.
Joe Nardella's work at the faceoff X has been a key for Rutgers in earning additional possessions. Nardella is 204-of-305 on the season (.669), a mark that leads the conference and is third in the nation. The Tewaarton Award Finalist also leads the team with 116 ground balls, which is the third most in the nation.
Freshman Jules Heningburg has supplied a spark to the team in conference play. The rookie from Maplewood, N.J. has won Big Ten Freshman of the Week in two of the past three weeks. He has scored 11 goals in his past five games and leads the team with seven goals in conference play. Heningburg is one of five underclassmen in Rutgers starting lineup, which has also recently included freshman midfielder Chad Toliver, and three sophomores in attacker Christian Trasolini, midfielder Jeff George, and defenseman Chris Groel. Nine freshmen have seen the field this season for Rutgers, with four earning starts.
Ohio State enters the game at 10-4, and is locked into second place in the conference. The Buckeyes are led by Jesse King, who paces them with 34 goals, 20 assists and 54 points. Carter Brown has also added 27 goals. On faceoffs, Chris May is 162-255 (.635), which is second best in the conference behind Nardella, while also trailing just Nardella with 8.0 ground balls per game. In goal, Tom Carey holds a 7.89 goals against average and .556 save percentage. OSU has been especially goal on man-down defense, with a .789 percentage that is second in the nation.
Rutgers leads the all-time series, 6-1, as the teams will meet for the first time since 1999. Rutgers won the first six games in the series, which dates back to a single matchup in 1953 prior to six contests in the 1990s.
QUOTABLE
"Overall I'm really happy with my career here. I've met some great guys, played in some big games, and got some big wins. It's been a great experience, just sad to see it go so soon, it went by so quick."
- Senior Captain Joe Nardella
"It's been a lot of fun throughout my four years here. We've played a lot of great games. It's been a lot of fun and it's crazy to see it wrapping up here."
- Senior Captain Brian Goss
