PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 20 Rutgers men's lacrosse concludes the regular season this weekend as the team travels to State College, Pa., to take on No. 1 Penn State. The game Saturday starts at 2:30 p.m. and will be broadcast nationwide on Big Ten Network with Mike Monaco (play-by-play) and Greg Bice (color commentary) on the call.
 
ABOUT RUTGERS: Rutgers enters the weekend 20^th in the Coaches Poll and 22^nd in the RPI. The Scarlet Knights are led offensively by the duo of Kieran Mullins (22 goals, 35 assists, 57 points) and Adam Charalambides (43 goals, 10 assists, 53 points). In the team's three Big Ten games, Mullins has a team-high 20 points (five goals and 15 assists), while Charalambides has 16 goals (the most in the Big Ten in conference play).
 
On the defensive end, the defense is backboned by four-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week Kyle Pless, who has a team-high 21 caused turnovers. In the cage, Max Edelmann is the nation's leader in saves per game (15.09), having stopped 166 shots in 11 games. 
 
As a team, RU ranks first in the country in man-down defense (.839) and fifth in saves per game (14.54). The Scarlet Knights are also 11^th in the nation in turnovers per game (14.77) and 12^th in clearing percentage (.870).
 
Individually, Edelmann is the nation's leader in saves/game (15.09) and is third in save percentage (.582). Mullins is fifth in the nation in assists (3.18 per game) and eighth in points (5.18 per game). Charalambides is sixth in the country in goals (3.31 per game).
 
ABOUT PENN STATE: The Nittany Lions enter the contest at 10-1 and have already clinched a share of the Big Ten title. PSU has won seven straight since their lone loss of the season (Feb. 23 at No. 6 Yale), and are 4-0 in the Big Ten. Offensively, they are led by Grant Ament (13 goals, 61 assists, 74 points), who captured Penn State's single-season assists record. Five other players have at least 20 points, including leading goal-scorer Mac O'Keefe (45 goals). Gerard Arceri is 166-of-262 (a Big Ten best 62.25%) on faceoffs. In the goal, Colby Kneese has a .548 save percentage and 9.50 goals-against-average. 
 
The team leads the nation in five offensive categories – scoring offense (17.5 goals per game), scoring margin (7.67), assist (10.33 per game), points per game (27.83) and shot percentage (42.9%).
 
ABOUT THE SERIES: Rutgers holds the all-time advantage, 43-22, in a series that dates back to 1950. Last season, Rutgers captured the Friendship Cup with an 11-8 win in front of 3,418 fans at HighPoint.com Stadium. Mullins had three goals in that game and Max Edelmann made 11 saves. Since Rutgers joined the Big Ten, the home team has won each matchup. It is the third most played series in Rutgers history, dating back to 1946, behind Princeton and Army. The Friendship Cup, which debuted in 1998 and is awarded to the winner, has been won by Rutgers six times.
 
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS: Rutgers is assured of a spot in the Big Ten Tournament, which the program will host in Piscataway on May 2-4 at HighPoint.com Stadium. The full bracket will be revealed following this weekend's games. Rutgers can be either the third or fourth seed. Penn State has clinched the tournament's top seed. Maryland will be either the number two or number three seed. The final spot in the field will go to either Ohio State or Johns Hopkins.
 
If Rutgers loses Saturday, they will be the fourth seed and will play top-seeded Penn State in Thursday's 5 p.m. semifinal. To earn the third seed, Rutgers needs a win and a Maryland win over Johns Hopkins on Saturday night. If both those occur, Rutgers will be the third seed and face second-seeded Maryland Thursday at 7:30 p.m.  
 
MILESTONES ON THE HORIZON: Rutgers has three players who are climbing the ranks of the program's all-time records.
 
Kieran Mullins: 22 goals, 35 assists, 57 points
He needs:
2 assists to tie for 8th on RU's single-season list (37)
3 assists to tie for 7th with 38
4 assists to tie for fifth with 39
5 assists take sole possession of fifth with 40
9 assists to tie for 4th (44)
 
Needs 8 points to reach tie for 9th on single-season list (65)
 
Adam Charalambides: 43 Goals, 10 Assists, 53 Points
He is currently fifth all-time single-season goals list
He needs:
1 goal to tie for third on RU's single-season list (44)
2 goals to take sole possession of third (45)
5 goals to tie for 2nd (48)
6 goals to take sole possession of 2nd (49)
7 goals to tie for the most all-time (50)
8 goals to take sole possession first all-time (51)
 
Max Edelmann: 482 saves
He needs:
17 saves to tie for 8th place on RU's single season list
18 more makes him 8th person ever to reach 500 saves
42 saves to tie for 7th

QUOTABLE: "Penn State is the number one team for a reason. They have a high octane offense with a lot of talented players. We need to be sharp, focused and bring our best effort against them."

- Rutgers Head Coach Brian Brecht
 
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