Weekly Athletic Communications Report: Feb. 11
Feb 11 | General
The Five Things to Know
1. Rutgers is the nation's only Division I athletics program with its women's basketball (No. 23, AP), wrestling (No. 18, NWCA) and men's lacrosse (No. 8, Inside Lacrosse) teams all nationally-ranked in current NCAA recognized polls.
2. Kieran Mullins was named National Player of the Week by Warrior/US Lacrosse. Mullins, who had six goals and three assists in the win over St. John's, leads the Big Ten with 4.5 goals-per-game.
3. Football will host a Coaches Clinic on April 5-6 featuring guest speaker New York Giants Head coach Pat Shurmur.
4. Women's soccer will host the Fearless Together fundraiser in partnership with RWJBarnabas Health on Saturday, Feb. 23. The event will include food and music, with Heather O'Reilly headlining the guest panel and C. Vivian Stringer receiving the Fearless Trailblazer Award.
5. Men's lacrosse participated in its 4th annual Career Development Day in New York City.The team had networking opportunities in the event sponsored by the Rutgers Office of Leadership Development and Strategic Partnerships.
Football
• Announced six addtions to its 2019 recruiting class on Feb. 6
• Broadcasted National Signing Day show, presented by Nissan with host Mike Quick.
Men's Basketball (11-12, 4-9)
• Travels to Northwestern Wednesday (7 pm, BTN) prior to hosting No. 21 Iowa Saturday (6 pm, FS1).
• Freshman guard Caleb McConnell scored a career-high 25 points shooting to help RU deposit 37-of-73 FGAs (50.7%) in a 99-94 OT loss at Illinois on Saturday. (Recap | BTN highlights)
• Eugene Omoruyi scored 21 points and RU out-rebounded No. 7 Michigan, but UM shot 47.8% behind the arc to escape the RAC with a 77-65 victory on Tuesday. (Recap | Postgame Press Conference)
No. 23 Women's Basketball (17-6, 9-3)
• Hosts Ohio State in the first of two meetings with the Buckeyes on Thursday at 7 p.m. (BTN Plus).
• Dropped a 62-48 decision to No. 10/8 Maryland in a battle for first place in the Big Ten (Recap | Postgame Press Conference).
• Continues to lead the league in field goal percent defense (.353) and steals (10.2).
• Alumn Betnijah Laney signed a free agent contract with the Indiana Fever.
No. 18 Wrestling (11-5, 4-3)
• Hosts No. 4 Michigan on Sunday for a noon dual at the RAC on BTN. The match is the final home event of the season and will serve as Senior Day.
• Swept weekend action with wins over No. 20 Purdue (22-15) on Sunday and Indiana (24-11) on Friday. (Purdue Recap | Indiana Recap)
• Ashnault was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week after his 10-2 major decision over former No. 1 Matthew Kolodzik last weekend against Princeton.
Gymnastics (2-8, 1-3)
• Recorded a 196.050, the second highest team score in program history, to top now-No. 24 Penn State (195.825) Saturday at the RAC. It was the team's first win over the Nittany Lions dating back to 1979. The meet was broadcast by Big Ten Network. (Recap | BTN Highlights)
• The Scarlet Knights had 15 routines that set or matched a career high and registered 23 scores of 9.700 or better, including a 9.925 from Belle Huang on balance beam to tie the school record.
• Travels to Michigan State Saturday for a 2 p.m. dual meet.
No. 8/9 Men's Lacrosse (2-0)
• Had a comeback victory over St. John's scoring the last seven goals in the fourth quarter for a 19-15 victory. Kieran Mullins led Rutgers with six goals and three assists for nine points, the most in the NCAA over the weekend. It was the most goals Rutgers had scored since 2016. (Recap | Highlights)
• Last Tuesday, earned two Big Ten weekly awards, as Connor Harryman was named Big Ten Co-Specialist of the Week and Kyle Pless was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
• Next up, host No. 19 Army on Saturday at noon (BTN Plus).
Women's Lacrosse (1-0)
• Hosts Temple on Wednesday (4:30 p.m., BTN Plus) and Marist on Saturday (3 p.m., BTN Plus)
• Blasted LIU Brooklyn, 20-3, on Friday at in its season opener. (Recap | Highlights)
• Sophomore Taralyn Naslonski had a career-high 10 points and seven goals in the first half, while rookie Marin Hartshorn finished with six points on four goals and two assists.
Softball (3-2)
• Heads to the Lone Star State from Feb. 15-17 for the Texas A&M Invitational and five contests against opponents ranked or receiving votes in the national polls in Liberty, McNeese State and the host Aggies.
• Smashed 13 home runs in five games and won its final three match-ups at the Mercer Invitational in Georgia against Jacksonville State, Mercer and Army (Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3).
• Saturday's 13-5 win over Jacksonville State marked head coach Kristen Butler's first win at the helm of the Scarlet Knights, and the Rutgers softball program's 1,000th all-time victory.
Baseball
• Begins season with a three-game series starting Friday night at Miami. ACCN Extra will provide a video stream and a radio broadcast will be available through ScarletKnights.com for each contest.
• The team returns 17 players with game experience and welcomes 16 newcomers. (Mic'd Up with Joe Litterio) (Season preview)
Men's Track & Field
• Added the Princeton Invitational to its schedule for this Saturday, Feb. 16.
• Posted numerous PRs and IC4A qualifying times at the Boston University Hemery/Valentine Invitational and the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational.
• Perry Christie claimed the high jump title in Boston, resetting his PR for the second straight meet with a mark of 2.16m (7' 1"). His mark ranks second in Rutgers history and second in the Big Ten This season.
Women's Track & Field
• Returns to action at the Princeton Invitational on Saturday, the last tune up before the Big Ten Indoor Championships
• Captured 13 new PRs along with nine ECAC qualifying mark and five top eight finishes at the Valentine's Invite on Friday. (Recap)
• 4x400m relay team of Mackenzie Prezume, Phyllis Gordon, Jenna Sobieski and Reanda Richards were the top finishers for RU with a fourth place performance and season best time (3:43.61).
Tennis (2-1)
• Suffered first loss of season in rtight, 4-3 match at Army. (Recap)
• Returns home to host Brown this Saturday at the East Brunswick Racquet Club (4 p.m.).
Men's Golf
• Closed out the Big Ten Match Play Championship last Saturday with wins over No. 3 seed Iowa and No. 9 seed Indiana. (Recap)
• Sophomores Bobby Weise and Oliver Whatley each produced two individual wins against the Hawkeyes and Hoosiers to help the Scarlet Knights.
Women's Golf
• After posting a school-record 299.80 scoring average in the fall, officially begins its spring season at the Lake Oconee Invitational hosted by Mercer, Saturday and Sunday, in Greensboro, Ga.
Field Hockey
• Sophomore goalkeeper Gianna Glatz was named the Rutgers Woman of the Year by the NJAIAW.
Volleyball
• ScarletKnights.com Feature: Volleyball Leads Rutgers' Record-Setting Academics While In Season.
