PISCATAWAY, N.J. – An 8-2 run in the second half, which included a hat trick from sophomore Kieran Mullins during the span, propelled the No. 11 Rutgers men's lacrosse team to a 15-10 victory over the visiting Delaware Blue Hens on Saturday night at High Point Solutions Stadium.

The win improved the Scarlet Knights to 7-2 in their final nonconference contest as they gear up for Big Ten play starting next weekend. Delaware, meanwhile, dropped its fifth-straight contest to fall to 3-5 on the year.

Altogether, four Scarlet Knights logged hat tricks as Mullins led the way totaling four goals on six shots to go along with a pair of assists. Freshman Tommy Coyne, senior Jules Heningburg and redshirt junior Casey Rose all put away three goals and an assist in the win as well. In goal, Max Edelmann logged nine saves.

The Blue Hens' Dean Simone captured a trio of tallies to go along with an assist with Charlie Kitchen also finding the back of the net three times in the loss. Netminder Matt DeLuca turned away 12 Rutgers shots on net.

Rutgers led in shots (44-34) while both teams battled for 28 ground balls each. The Scarlet Knights were 13-of-14 on clears and 14-of-27 faceoffs with senior Alex Schoen winning seven. Additionally, redshirt freshman Garrett Bullett and junior Garrett Michaeli each registered two caused turnovers.

With the game tied at 4-4 with 6:12 left to play in the opening quarter, Rutgers was able to score three times to head into the second quarter ahead 7-4.

After Heningburg put the Scarlet Knights up 7-4 early in the second quarter, Delaware regained control of the game with four unanswered scores leading into the half and added an early tally for a 9-7 edge with 11:46 left in the third.

From there, however, the Scarlet Knights went on a tear with seven straight-goals to take over the lead for good.

"I'm pleased with the ball movement today. The spacing was excellent. The pace of play was very good," said head coach Brian Brecht. "We had great shot selection in the first quarter and in the second half, I thought we had very good offense. We had a hard time facing off in the first half and once we settled in, I thought we did a much better job in the second half. We did a much better job clearing the ball and playing defense in the second half, which led to extra offensive opportunities for us. We were out ground balled and outshot in the first half and then we turned it around. It had to do with our approach and taking care of ourselves and playing with a little more conviction than being passive and just watching."



The Rutgers men's lacrosse team's homestand continues on Sunday, April 1 against John Hopkins in the Big Ten opener on BTN.

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