Fairfield, Conn. – No. 19 Rutgers men's lacrosse earned an 8-4 road win Saturday afternoon at Fairfield. The Scarlet Knights were led by a career-high three goals from junior midfielder
Owen Mead, while goalkeeper
Max Edelmann tied his career-high with 17 saves as RU improved to 3-2.
Adam Charalambides added two goals and two assists, while
Casey Rose,
Ryan Gallagher and
Michael Sanguinetti also scored. The defensive effort on the day was superb, with RU holding the Stags without a goal in a 27-minute period that spanned from the second to fourth quarter.
Fairfield held a 43-39 advantage in shots and 33-22 in ground balls. RU was 23-of-24 on clears while the Stags were 17-of-24. Each team won eight faceoffs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Rutgers took a 2-1 lead after one quarter with
Adam Charalambides tallying both goals for the Scarlet Knights. In the second quarter,
Owen Mead finished off a feed from Charalambides, then
Ryan Gallagher scored off a spin move for a 4-1 lead. The Stags had the final goal of the first half for a 4-2 halftime lead for the visitors.
In the second half, Mead scored his second of the day off an assist from
David Sprock for a 5-2 lead.
Casey Rose followed that with a lefty rocket from distance for a 6-2 lead. That was the margin after 45 minutes, as Rutgers held Fairfield without a goal in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter,
Michael Sanguinetti and
Owen Mead scored just 26 seconds apart for an 8-2 lead. Fairfield scored with 5:26 left in the game to break a 27-minute scoring drought, then added another two minutes later for an 8-4 margin, but that would be all they would get.
QUOTABLE
"I thought we were very good defensively today.
Max Edelmann had an outstanding performance in the cage and he did a great job organizing our defense. Offensively we did enough to score a couple more goals than them and get a win over a good team on the road. Any road win is a good win and we're happy to take this victory back to Piscataway."
"It feels really good to get this win. I thought our defense did a good job in making stops and clearing the ball. We did well in our matchups and were solid off-ball. Our guys made plays all over the field."
NOTABLE
- The 4 goals allowed was the lowest surrendered by Rutgers since 2017 (an 8-3 win at Fairfield) , marking a span of 30 games.
- Owen Mead had a career-high with three goals, following up a two-goal effort last week. Two of his three career multi-goal games have come against Fairfield.
- Owen Mead set a new career-best with seven goals on the season.
- Mead had a career high two ground balls.
- Adam Charalambides extended his goal-scoring streak to 14 games. It was his fourth multi-goal game this season and he has at least three points in four games this season.
- Adam Charalambides now leads the team with 13 goals, six assists and 19 points this season.
- He has four caused turnovers this season, tying his career-high.
- Through 21 career games, Charalambides has 56 goals, 20 assists and 76 points.
- Rutgers now leads the all-time series with Fairfield 5-4, having defeated them each of the last four years.
- Jack Thompson (defense) and Owen Mead (midfield) made their first career starts.
- Ryan Gallagher made his first career start as an attackman.
- Max Edelmann allowed just 4 goals. His two fewest goals allowed have been versus Fairfield (4 in 2019, 3 in 2017).
- Jack Thompson set career highs in ground balls (three) and caused turnovers (one) in his first career start.
