No. 19 Rutgers will head to the road to take on Fairfield Saturday at 3 p.m. The game time was moved back two hours due to expected inclement weather Saturday. It is the fourth straight season these two teams will match up. The game will be broadcast by Lax Sports Network with Brendan Glasheen (play-by-play) and Steve Panarelli (color commentary) on the call.
ABOUT RUTGERS: The Scarlet Knights are 2-2 on the season. The RU attack line has been boosted by the return of
Adam Charalambides. After missing the last two seasons due to injury, the 2016 Big Ten Freshman of the Year has 11 goals and 15 points on the year. Charalambides and attackman
Kieran Mullins were named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List on Thursday. Overall, 11 different players have scored goals through four games. Four of those players (
Mark Schachte, who has four goals, along with
David Sprock,
Michael Sanguinetti and
Cole Daninger, who have three apiece) had never scored in a collegiate game prior to this season. Another (
Owen Mead) scored twice last game, his first career game leading the Scarlet Knights in goals.
Rutgers leads the Big Ten in ground balls per game (36.5).
Max Edelmann leads the league with 14.5 saves per game.
Rutgers' four opponents are 12-3 on the season, with two of those three losses being dealt by Rutgers. Army is No. 15 and its loss came to a ranked Syracuse team. Loyola is 3-0. Lafayette is 4-1 with the lone loss against Rutgers. St. John's is 2-1 with a road win over No. 11 High Point and only loss to the Scarlet Knights.
ABOUT FAIRFIELD: The Stags enter the contest at 1-1, falling 21-10 in the opener to Saint Joseph's before responding with a 12-11 win at Sacred Heart last week. Dylan Beckwith leads the team with 12 points (five goals and seven assists), while Patrick Drake has a team-best six goals. Frankie Labetti is 29-of-49 on faceoffs with 19 ground balls. James Corasaniti has played 99 of the 120 minutes in goal with a 13.26 goals-against-average and .522 save percentage. He was named CAA Rookie of the Week following 18 saves in the win over Sacred Heart. The team is fourth in the NCAA with 9.0 assists per game, as Beckwith is fifth in the nation. Drake has scored three of is goals on the man-up, as Fairfield converts 50% of the time, the eighth best mark in the country. Fairfield was 4-11 last season and graduated its leading goal scorer Joe Rodrigues and points leader Colin Burke.
ABOUT THE SERIES: Rutgers and Fairfield have played eight times as the all-time series is even at 4-4. The Scarlet Knights have won the last three contests.
Last season, RU won 12-7, as
Owen Mead had his first career two-goal game and
Kyle Pless had six ground balls last year and was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. In the last trip to Fairfield, RU
won 8-3 as
Max Edelmann made nine saves in the 100th career victory for head coach
Brian Brecht. The teams met annually from 2006-2009 when both played in the ECAC. In 2004, Rutgers earned a 7-6 victory at Fairfield in triple overtime, the longest game the program had played in 23 years
.
ABOUT LAX SPORTS NETWORK: Lax Sports Network is a free online webstream. It can be viewed online at LaxSportsNetwork.com. There is also a free app download for iOS or Android (bit.ly/2JoEgJE) and can be view on TV via free app on Apple TV, Xbox, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Google Chromecast.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics) and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers men's lacrosse, follow the program and Brecht on Twitter (@RUMLax and @RUlaxCoach) and Facebook. Fans can receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on our social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com.
