PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 15 Rutgers men's lacrosse plays its third game in an eight-day span as it travels to No. 13 Syracuse for a road matchup at 1 p.m. Saturday. It will be Rutgers' second straight game versus a ranked foe and fourth ranked opponent in the last six games. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra and Syracuse will have an online radio broadcast as well.
ABOUT RUTGERS: The Scarlet Knights are 4-3 on the year, splitting a pair of home games this week, first downing rival Princeton 9-8 before falling Tuesday night to No. 16 Lehigh by a 13-10 score. In that game, Ryan Gallagher scored a career-high four goals in his third game as a starting attackman, while Kieran Mullins had five points behind two goals and three assists. Alex Schoen, who transferred to Rutgers after spending his freshman season at Syracuse on the football team, was 10-of-18 on faceoffs with a game-high seven ground balls. Kyle Pless led the team with four caused turnovers and has a team-high 12 caused turnovers through seven games.
As a team, RU ranks among the top-10 in the nation in man-down defense (second, .889), turnovers (eighth, 14.71) and clearing (10th, 7.43). Max Edelmann holds a .610 save percentage that is third best in the nation. Edelmann was named Big Ten Co-Specialist of the Week and to the USILA Team of the Week last Tuesday, while his teammate Garrett Bullett was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
Adam Charalambides (17 goals) and Kieran Mullins (15 goals) have combined for 42 percent of the Scarlet Knights' goals this season, but the Scarlet Knights have also displayed depth in scoring. 14 different players have scored goals this season, with 10 players scoring at least three goals this season.
ABOUT SYRACUSE: Syracuse enters the matchup at 3-2 overall. Their resume includes wins last Saturday over Johns Hopkins (14-10) as well as February wins over Army and Albany. The team's two losses came to Colgate in the opener and to Virginia in overtime. This is the sixth straight home game for Syracuse as they have not yet left the Carrier Dome this season.
Offensively the Orange are led by attackman Bradley Voigt (12 goals) and midfielder Brendan Curry (15 points). Drake Porter holds a .580 save percentage and has made 69 saves, ranking top-10 nationally in both categories. Jack Phaup has won faceoffs at a .635 clip.
ABOUT THE SERIES: Rutgers and Syracuse have faced each other 51 times, with Syracuse holding a 41-10 advantage. This is Rutgers' first trip to the Carrier Dome since 2013. As BIG EAST opponents, the two teams played annually from 1979-2013. Last season, Rutgers claimed a 14-10 victory in front of a home record crowd of 5,048 behind six goals and eight points from Jules Heningburg. Among returners, Casey Rose scored twice, Max Edelmann made 10 saves, and Alex Schoen won 12 faceoffs. The matchup pits two of the oldest program in college lacrosse. Rutgers celebrated 100 years of lacrosse two seasons ago, while Syracuse commemorates 100 years of lacrosse this season. Both programs have won over 800 games lifetime.
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