PISCATAWAY, N.J. – RV Rutgers will play its second straight road game this weekend when it takes on No. 11/12 Loyola Saturday at noon. The Patriot League Network will stream the game.
Rutgers sits at 2-1 on the season following it's contest last week at No. 13/14 Army. That game started a stretch of four out of five games against opponents either nationally ranked or receiving votes in the polls.
Rutgers' attack line of
Adam Charalambides (nine goals, three assists),
Ryan Gallagher (eight goals) and
Kieran Mullins (three goals and six assists) is one of the top trios in the nation. Both Charalambides and Mullins were named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List and are returning all-conference selections. On the year, the Scarlet Knights have scored 41 goals in three games (13.67 goals per game), coming from 16 different goal scorers. Charalambides enters the weekend with 99 career goals in 34 games, one short of 10
th place all-time at RU.
Defensively, the back line of
Garrett Bullett,
Zach Masessa and
Jaryd Jean-Felix have combined for 15 ground balls and nine caused turnovers. Top long-stick midfielder
Ethan Rall has added seven ground balls and four caused turnovers, and was the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Week after the inaugural week of action.
Loyola has begun the 2020 campaign with a 1-1 record, falling 12-9 to No. 1 Virginia and defeating No. 11 Johns Hopkins 10-7. The Preseason favorite in the Patriot League is led offensively by Kevin Lindley (six goals). Sam Shafer has a 12.00 goals-against-average and .556 save percentage, sitting sixth in the nation at 15.0 saves per game. Bailey Savio has won 59.1 percent of faceoffs. The 2012 NCAA champions have qualified for the NCAA Tournament seven of the past eight years.
Rutgers and Loyola have played 11 times, with Loyola taking the contest in 10 of them. The teams played five times between 1990 and 1994 and five times between 2005 and 2009 as members of the ECAC. Rutgers' win came on April 7, 2007, a 17-7 home victory led by four goals from Mike Dugan and three tallies from Justin Pennington. The teams also matched up in the NCAA Tournament in 1990, a 19-10 victory for the Greyhounds where current Loyola coach Charlie Toomey made 22 saves in their win. Last season, then No. 1 Loyola defeated then No. 18 Rutgers by a 13-7 margin. This will mark the Scarlet Knights first visit to Ridley Athletic Complex. Rutgers Head Coach
Brian Brecht served as an assistant coach at Loyola from 2002 to 2004.
Rutgers is 19-72 all-time against ranked wins. 13 of those wins have come since 2015, the program's first year in the Big Ten.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (
www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics) and Twitter (
@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers men's lacrosse, follow the program and Brecht on Twitter (
@RUMLax and
@RUlaxCoach) and
Facebook. Fans can receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on our social media outlets along with
www.ScarletKnights.com.
