QUEENS, N.Y. – In a game marked by wild scoring runs, No. 12 Rutgers (2-0) men's lacrosse came out on top by scoring the last seven goals to defeat St. John's 19-15. The Scarlet Knights were led by six goals from Kieran Mullins. Adam Charalambides had four goals, while Tommy Coyne had three.

Freshman Cole Daninger had the first two goals of his career. Three other midfielders had one goal apiece: Michael Sanguinetti, Ryan Gallagher and Casey Rose. Gallagher's goal tied the game in the fourth quarter, while Rose's goal was the game-winner.

Rutgers held a 35-27 advantage on ground balls. The team was 17-of-19 on clears and had 11 turnovers to St. John's 13, including zero in the fourth quarter. RU was 16-of-38 on faceoffs, with a 6-of-11 mark in the final frame.

HOW IT HAPPENED

St. John's got the game started with the first two goals of the game. But hallway into the first quarter, the Rutgers offense kicked into gear. The Scarlet Knights then scored the next five goals. Two tallies from Kieran Mullins, goals from Michael Sanguinetti, Tommy Coyne and Adam Charalambides gave RU a 5-2 lead early in the second quarter.

The Red Storm had the next tally, but that only briefly halted the Rutgers attack. Freshman Cole Daninger scored the first two goals of his career, and Charalambides made it a hat trick with two of his own, as RU held a 9-3 lead. St. John's responded with a six-goal run, controlling play for the rest of the quarter, and the game was even at 9-9 heading into the halftime locker room.

In the third quarter, both team scored three goals. Each one of Rutgers' three starting attackmen tallied, and the game went to the fourth quarter tied at 12-12.

The Red Storm scored the next three goals, taking a 15-12 lead. Rutgers responded with a crucial seven-goal run. Freshman David Sprock got things started with a tally on the extra-man opportunity. Coyne then finished a one-timer from Mullins to cut the deficit to one.

Ryan Gallagher scored the game-tying goal with six minutes left, followed shortly by the game-winning tally from Casey Rose. The redshirt senior captain absorbed a hit and fired in a rocket from long-range to give the visitors the lead for good. Kieran Mullins took it from there, scoring three times in the waning minutes to ice the victory.

QUOTABLE

"Great road win for our team as many guys chipped in to get it done today. Our attack really played well together, the man-down defense had a big stop at the end to keep the lead, and our extra-man unit had a huge goal in the fourth quarter to help us to victory today. I'm proud of our mental toughness to come back for a good road win in the fourth quarter after being down."

• Head Coach Brian Brecht

NOTABLE

• Kieran Mullins tied his career-high with three assists.
• His six-goal performance was his third career game with at least six goals.
• Adam Charalambides had his sixth career game with at least four goals and seventh career game with at least five points.
• Rutgers goalkeeper Ben Pounds made a career-high 15 saves.
• Freshman Michael Ott made his Rutgers' debut, going 10-of-17 on faceoffs with a team-high seven ground balls.
• Garrett Michaeli had a career-high six ground balls.
• Jack Thompson had his first career caused turnover.
• Redshirt freshman Joe Peterson made his first career start.
• Eddie Perlstein and Brodie Gillespie made their collegiate debuts.
• Rutgers' 19 goals was the most the team had scored since scoring 19 in a 19-11 win over St. John's on Feb. 12, 2016
• Mullins' has the last three nine-plus point games to be recorded by a Scarlet Knight: vs. St. John's (6 goals, 3 assists), vs Michigan (April 8, 2018 – 8 goals 2 assists), at Michigan (April 8, 2017 – 8 goals 1 assist)
• The last time a non-Kieran Mullins player had nine points was Scott Bieda, Feb. 12, 2016 vs St. John's (5 goals, 4 assists)
• The two teams combined for 34 goals. The last time a Rutgers game had that many total goals was April 14, 1990, an 18-17 overtime win over Penn State. 
• The 19 goals scored by Rutgers was the second-highest total scored in the NCAA on the weekend. 
• The last time that Rutgers allowed 15 goals in a win was May 7, 1994, a 16-15 overtime win over Hofstra. 
• According to LacrosseReference.com, the Scarlet Knights' expected win probability was at 5% prior to the seven-goal run that clinched the victory. 
   

The Scarlet Knights return home next weekend to host Army at 12 p.m. Tickets for the 2019 season are on sale through the Rutgers Ticket Office online or by calling 1-866-445-GORU (4678).
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