PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 17 Rutgers men's lacrosse will travel to Ohio State this weekend for the team's first Big Ten Conference game. The game will begin with the first faceoff at 12 p.m. The contest will be televised nationwide on ESPN with Chris Cotter (play-by-play) and Paul Carcaterra (color commentary) on the call.
ABOUT RUTGERS: The Scarlet Knights are 5-4 on the year. Last Saturday, RU downed Hofstra 10-7 in the non-conference finale. The team was led by four goals from Adam Charlambides, five points (one goal and four assists) from
Kieran Mullins, and 18 saves from goalkeeper
Max Edelmann.
Offensively, the team has been led by the attack duo of Charalambides (27 goals, 35 points) and
Kieran Mullins (17 goals and 20 assists for 37 points).
Ryan Gallagher recently moved into a starting spot on attack and is third on the team with 10 goals and 18 points, while
Tommy Coyne, who switched with Gallagher into a midfield role, follows him with 14 points.
On the defensive end,
Kyle Pless leads the team and the Big Ten with 16 caused turnovers. After recording four caused turnovers last week, he was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season. In goal,
Max Edelmann's 112 saves make him the only goalie in the conference to pass the century mark in saves this season, and rank 3.6 saves per game ahead of second place in the league.
As a team, RU ranks among the top-10 in the nation in man-down defense (first, .864), saves per game (fifth, 15.0), turnovers per game (sixth, 14.44), and clearing percentage (sixth, .883). Individually,
Max Edelmann is first in the nation in saves per game (16.0) and is fourth in save percentage (.605), while
Kieran Mullins is eighth in points per game (5.29) and ninth in assists per game (2.86).
Adam Charalambides ranks 12
th in the country in goals per game (3.00).
Rutgers' senior class was won 35 games over the past four seasons (35-19). With one more victory, the group will tie the 1989 senior class for most victories in a four-year span. 12 players have spent all four of those years 'On the Banks' (
Kyle Pless,
Mark Christiano,
Ben Dodson,
Ryan Cunningham,
Jack Ayre,
Garrett Michaeli,
Adam Graham,
Max Edelmann,
Casey Rose,
Alex Schoen,
Adam Charalambides and
Garrett Bullett)
ABOUT OHIO STATE: OSU enters the matchup at 7-0 overall following an 11-10 overtime road win at No. 11 Ohio State, the Buckeyes' first ranked win of the season. The team is led offensively by Tre Leclaire with 23 goals, while Jack Jasinski has 26 points. Justin Inacio has won 60.6 percent of his faceoffs while Josh Kirson has stopped 57.9 percent of shots he has faced.
ABOUT THE SERIES: Rutgers and Ohio State have faced each other 11 times dating back to 1953, with Rutgers holding an 8-3 advantage. After the inaugural meeting in 1953, the series was played six times in the 1990s, then resumed when the teams became conference opponents. As Big Ten foes, the teams have split the meetings 2-2, with the home team winning each time. The Scarlet Knights won 15-14 in overtime on a
Kieran Mullins game-winner to beat No. 3 Ohio State in 2017, which tied for the highest ranked win in program history. RU also earned a win over No. 10 Ohio State in 2015 by a 17-10 score.
QUOTABLE:
"We've definitely challenged ourselves with our non-conference schedule. Steel sharpens steel. We get a chance to have a week to prepare for each opponent. It's an exciting time of year. The weather is getting nicer. We've had a great experience being tested in the non-conference games, and now we have to ply all that we've learned and continue to develop each week and grow as we go into April. This is a great opportunity for all the guys in our locker room with the start of conference play."
"Rutgers is a great team. That is a team that when you look at them on film, they are as potent as anybody in the country in terms of their ability to score in the early offense. They have a great attack. Couple of really solid players down there. At the other end of the field, their goalkeeper is playing as good as anybody. They are dangerous from their back line through up to the front. And I have no doubt they will be playing with a Big Ten sense of urgency."
- Ohio State Head Coach Nick Myers
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