PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 16 Rutgers men's lacrosse used an explosive offensive effort to cruise to a season-opening victory, routing Quinnipiac by a final score of 20-9. The Scarlet Knights had 13 different goal scorers on the day. 

"I thought coming out of the preseason this week's practice had a lot of energy," head coach Brian Brecht. I was pleased with the effort and the work our team put in. We were flying around the field, which was great to see. The defense did a good job of getting stops and we did a good job with our tempo and pushing transition."

Kieran Mullins led RU with seven points on the day on two goals and a team-high five assists. Ryan Gallagher had a team-high four goals, David Sprock had three and freshman Ross Scott had two goals. Adam Charalambides, Cole Daninger, Mark Schachte, Joe Peterson, Eric Civetti, Dominic Carter, Zackary Franckowiak, Robert Marron and Owen Mead all had one goal apiece. 

Goalkeeper Stephen Russo made 12 saves and collected five ground balls in his Scarlet Knights debut. Palmer Lloyd has 16-of-26 on faceoffs with five ground balls. Mullins, Charalambides, Franckowiak and Ethan Rall all had four ground balls. Rall had a team-high two caused turnovers, while Jaryd Jean-Felix caused two. 

Rutgers had a 58-32 advantage in shots and 41-31 margin in ground balls. RU was 20-of-23 on clears and forced the visitors into 25 turnovers.



The Scarlet Knights were in command from the outset, taking a 6-1 lead out of the gates and leading 7-3 after one quarter and 14-5 at halftime to cruise to the win. 

"The offense was clicking today," David Sprock said. "We were moving the ball fast, dodging, and getting everybody a look. We had a bunch of new goal scorers today, which was awesome to see."
 

The Scarlet Knights remain home next week, when they will host St. John's. 

POSTGAME NOTES
- The Scarlet Knights 14-goal first half was their most in one half since joining the Big Ten. 
- The 20 goals were the team's most since scoring 21 against NJIT in 2015. 
- Sprock set a career-high with three goals and tied his career-high in points. 
- Ryan Gallagher had a career-high four goals and four points. 
- Kieran Mullins had his second career game with five assists.
- Freshman Ross Scott scored his first two goals of his career.
- Eric Civetti and Dominic Carter each scored their first career goals. 
- Carter had his first career assist for a two-point day. 
- Demetrius Stevenson had his first career assist 
Zack Masessa, Jaryd Jean-Felix, and Stephen Russo made their first starts as Scarlet Knights.
- Robert Marron set a career high with 2 points.
- Mark Schachte set a career- high with two assists.
- Palmer Lloyd set career highs in faceoffs won and ground balls.
- Made Rutgers debut: Stephen Russo, Kevin Carbone
- Made collegiate debut: Demetrius Stevenson, Ross Scott, Brad Thompson, Moriah Yousefi, Eric Civetti, Dominic Carter, James Ringer
- Rutgers had 13 different goal scorers in the game, their most since having 14 in a 24-4 win over Wagner in 2010.