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PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers men's lacrosse was clicking on all cylinders Saturday afternoon at High Point Solutions Stadium, downing Fairfield 12-6 to improve to 3-0 on the season. RU was led by four goals from sophomore Jules Heningburg, three tallies from redshirt freshman Adam Charalambides, and a six-point day (one goal, five assists) from senior captain Scott Bieda.

"I was proud of the win," head coach Brian Brecht said. "Fairfield is a good team, they are well coached. Our staff has a lot of respect for them. They won the CAA regular season championship last year. To get the first win for Rutgers over Fairfield since 2004 when Timmy White scored the game-winner in triple overtime was a great team win. I'm excited to be 3-0 heading into the month of March. I'm certainly very proud of the guys today."

The Scarlet Knights outshot the Stags 45-33 and led 35-23 in ground balls. RU forced 15 turnovers and was a perfect 20-20 on clears. Max Edelmann played the first 45 minutes in net and made seven saves while allowing just five goals for the victory.

Rutgers' two defensive midfielders had strong games, with Christian Mazzone and Christian Scarpello each tying for the team-high with four ground balls. Mazzone had a game-high four caused turnovers, while Scarpello had an assist.

"I've been praising our short stick D middies and our rope unit all year," Brecht said. "They played some great defense today."

Rutgers got the game off to a strong start with the first two goals of the day. Heningburg scored just 1:46 into the game, and freshman Mark Christiano scored his second goal of the year five minutes in. Rutgers extended that lead to 4-1 with goals from Heningburg and sophomore Chad Toliver.

Fairfield scored in the waning seconds of the first period, but Rutgers counter-punched with three straight tallies and five of the next six goals overall to put the game out of reach. Christian Trasolini's first tally of the season was followed consecutively by scores from Charalambides and Heningburg, and RU took a 7-3 lead into halftime.

Out of the locker room, Rutgers picked up right where it left off with a pair of goals from redshirt freshmen. Charalambides scored two minutes in, and Casey Rose tallied his second career goal right after him.

Fairfield scored the next three goals, cutting the Rutgers lead to 9-6. However, that was as close as the Stags would get. Senior goalie Kris Alleyne stopped the final three Fairfield shots, and each of Rutgers' starting attackmen would tally once more for a 12-6 final margin in favor of the home squad.

"I give a lot of credit to that whole unit," Brecht explained. "They've really gelled well, they really play of each other. It's kind of pick your poison - they are all capable of having monster days."

Rutgers has a short turnaround before playing its first midweek game of the season Tuesday at Wagner. That game starts at 3 p.m. Rutgers next four contests are all on the road, taking place in either New York or New Jersey.

Postgame Notes

Rutgers started a season 3-0 for the first time since 2011, when RU began 4-0.

Heningburg tied his career-high with four goals, set last season against NJIT (March 20, 2015).

Bieda's five assists tied his previous career-high, set last season at Michigan (April 15, 2015).

Charalambides has notched at least four points in each of his three career games. He leads the team with 13 goals on the season.

Heninburg scored Rutgers' first man-down goal of the season.

Rutgers starting attack line (Bieda, Charalambides, Heningburg) has combined for 28 goals, 15 assists and 43 points this season.

Rutgers underclassmen (Charalambides, Heningburg, Toliver, Christiano, Rose and Franckowiak) have scored 29 of the team's 44 goals this season (66 percent).

RU entered the day as the highest scoring offense in the Big Ten, and for the third time this season scored double-digit goals. Rutgers is averaging 14.67 goals per game this season.

Rutgers has forced at least 14 turnovers in all three games this season. RU averages just 10.3 turnovers per game.

Rutgers defeated Fairfield for the first time since 2004.