PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 19 Rutgers men's lacrosse raced out to a 9-4 lead in the opening half, but was unable to hold on, falling 16-13 to No. 3 Maryland (10-2, 2-1 Big Ten) in front of 2,281 fans at HighPoint.com Stadium. The Scarlet Knights (6-6, 1-2 Big Ten) were led by four goals from Adam Charalambides. Owen Mead (two goals and two assists) also had four points, while Ryan Gallagher, David Sprock and Casey Rose all had two goals apiece.
Maryland held a 39-31 advantage in shots and 18-15 in faceoffs. Rutgers held a 29-28 margin in ground balls.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Scarlet Knights had momentum early, scoring the first three goals. After one quarter, the home team led 5-3. RU had a five-goal run spanning the first two quarters, holding Maryland for 15 minutes without a score to make the lead 9-4 with six minutes left in the opening half.
Maryland responded with the next five goals, tying the game at 9-9 at the 11:19 mark of the third quarter. Rutgers had the next goal for a 10-9 lead. The Terps responded with two of their own, taking their first lead of the day in the waning seconds of the third quarter at 11-10.
The two teams traded punches down the stretch, with the game tied at 11-11 and 12-12. Maryland then had a crucial five-goal run, allowing them to push their lead to 16-12, and finish off an eventual three-goal win.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Owen Mead had a career-high two assists and four points.
- Adam Charalambides had his eighth straight multi-goal game. He now leads the team with 37 goals on the season.
- Charalambides surpasses the 100-point plateau for his career in the game, doing so in his 28th career contest.
- Max Edelmann made 12 saves. He has recorded double-digit saves in every game this season.
- Edelmann now has 155 saves on the year, a new career-high.
- David Sprock's three points were a new single-game high.
- Kieran Mullins (one goal, two assists) had three points, and has reached that number in every game this season.
- Ryan Gallagher had his fourth straight multi-goal game.
- Casey Rose had his second multi-goal game of the season.
- Connor Harryman led the team in ground balls with six, winning 14 faceoffs.
QUOTABLE
"You have to give credit to Maryland, they made a lot of great plays. You can't pin it on one specific thing. We have to just stick to what we doing and keep working hard as a team. We'll tighten things up. Our big focus is to play a full sixty minutes. We had a great first half, we really came out strong and with energy, but weren't able to keep that going for the whole game."
Rutgers attackman Adam Charalambides
UP NEXT
Rutgers remains home next Saturday, hosting Michigan at 3 p.m. That game will be Alumni Appreciation Day, with a pregame reception for returning alumni, as well as Senior Day, with a postgame ceremony for the 11 graduating seniors.
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