PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 10 Rutgers men's lacrosse earned an important conference win, downing No. 11 Penn State by an 11-8 final score Sunday night, claiming the Friendship Cup trophy. The Scarlet Knights (9-4, 2-2 Big Ten) were led by three goals apiece from Christian Mazzone and Kieran Mullins in the win over the Nittany Lions (8-5, 2-2 Big Ten).

Jules Heningburg had four points in the game on two goals and two assists, becoming the 4th RU player ever to reach 200 career points. Tommy Coyne, Chad Toliver and Connor Vercruysse each added a goal in the game.

"It's a sixty-minute game, and we put ourselves in good position with how we played in the first half to be able to weather a bit of a run," head coach Brian Brecht explained. "Penn State's a very talented team. I thought we did a pretty good job when we had the opportunities in the second half. Our offense has been playing pretty well, and they made some big plays in the fourth quarter to allow us to bring it home."

Max Edelmann made 11 saves to backstop RU to a victory. PSU's eight goals was their second-lowest output of the year.

"Our defense played outstanding today," Edelmann said. "They do a great job. All around the field, it was a great team effort tonight. This was a good day today, especially in front of all of our fans and alumni here, that was awesome."

Penn State got out to an early 2-0 lead. The Scarlet Knights responded with a 7-1 lead from there heading into halftime, including shutting out the Nittany Lions in the second quarter.  Mullins had two first quarter tallies, leading to a 4-3 lead after the first frame. Holding the visitors scoreless for over 17 minutes, RU tacked on three more scores, with tallies by Heningburg and Mazzone, and a transition goal from Chad Toliver leading to a four-goal advantage for the Scarlet Knights at the intermission.

In the second half, PSU scored first to cut the deficit to 7-4, but the RU defense clamped down again, with Heningburg adding another goal for his 200^th career point, as Rutgers created another scoring drought for Penn State of over 13 minutes. In all, after scoring the first two goals of the game, the Nittany Lions scored just twice over the next 38 minutes, resulting in an 8-4 lead for the home team.

The team's traded goals in the final 11 seconds of the third quarter, and Rutgers took a 9-6 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the final stanza, Penn State scored the first two tallies of the frame, and got within one goal at 9-8 with 12:30 to play. However, that was their last scoring of the day, as Rutgers put home the final two goals to ice the game and the 11-8 final score.

"We were pumped to get this one," Mazzone said. "It could possibly be our last game here so we wanted to give our fans a good show and with Penn State, it's always a dog fight. We knew it was going to be a great game, great atmosphere and we're just happy we came out on top."

Next up for the Scarlet Knights is a road trip to Ohio State for the regular season finale. That game will be at 4 p.m. Saturday, and a win in that contest will give the Scarlet Knights a bid to the Big Ten Tournament.

"The Big Ten's a bear," Brecht said. "You have to come ready to play every weekend. I'm proud of the guys tonight. They got a great win over the 11th-ranked team in the country. We're in a good spot right now."
 
Postgame Notes

• Rutgers now leads the all-time series with Penn State 43-22 in the third most played series in Rutgers history, dating back to 1946.
• The win was Rutgers' fourth ranked win of the season (previously beat No. 12 Syracuse, No. 17 Lehigh, No. 17 Michigan)
• RU was won 22 of its past 24 home games. 
• Toliver's goal was his first since the season opener.
• Mazzone extended his goal-scoring streak to 17 games, the longest of any midfielder in the nation. It was his fourth-straight multi-goal game, and ninth time in the last ten games he scored at least twice.
• Mullins had his fourth game this season with at least three goals.
• Heningburg leads the Big Ten in points (65) and assists (31).
• With two goals, Heningburg moves into sole possession of 6^th all-time at Rutgers with 114.
• With two assists, Heningburg ties for 10^th place all-time at RU with 86.
• Heningburg is the 4^th player in Rutgers history to reach the 200-point milestone. He needs just two points to move into second place all-time at Rutgers.
• In Big Ten Conference games, Mullins leads the team with 14 goals and 21 points. That goal total leads all Big Ten players in conference games.
• Kyle Pless led the team with two caused turnovers.
• Joe Francisco led the team with six ground balls, tying his season-high. 

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics ) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/RUAthletics ) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers field hockey, follow the program on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RutgersMLax), Twitter (@RUMLax) and Instagram (@RutgersMLax). Fans can receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on both social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com. For additional updates, please download the Gameday App.