PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 9 Rutgers men's lacrosse is heading to the NCAA Tournament this Saturday. The Scarlet Knights head to Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia, where they will face the No. 8 seed Lehigh. The games hosted by UVA open up the weekend of NCAA lacrosse action, with Rutgers being the second game of the entire NCAA Tournament with a 2:30 p.m. start on Saturday. The contest will be nationally televised on ESPNU, with Chris Cotter and Paul Carcaterra on the call. WRSU will also provide a radio broadcast of the contest.

The Scarlet Knights will play their first game of the season on a grass surface, as opposed to playing on turf. In preparation, Rutgers practiced this week in Yurcak Field, where Rutgers' soccer team plays their home games.

ABOUT RUTGERS

Rutgers excelled while playing in the historically elite Big Ten Conference. The Scarlet Knights won eight games against conference competition, posting a program-best .800 winning percentage. RU claimed home-and-home sweeps during the regular season over Penn State, Ohio State, Johns Hopkins and Michigan. During the season, Rutgers claimed wins over four teams that were ranked during their matchup – No. 6 Penn State, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 14 Johns Hopkins and No. 14 Ohio State.

Rutgers set program records in the release of the All-Big Ten awards with six all-conference selections. The team had three major award winners as Colin Kirst was named Big Ten Specialist of the Year, Shane Knobloch was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Brian Brecht was named Coach of the Year. Rutgers was represented on the First Team by Colin and Connor Kirst alongside Adam Charalambides, while Jaryd Jean-Felix, Kieran Mullins and Ethan Rall were on the second team. Short-stick defensive midfielder Brennan Kamish was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.

The Scarlet Knights feature an elite attack line with Charalambides (team-best 37 goals and 53 points) and Connor Kirst (32 goals and 47 points) flanking Kieran Mullins (25 goals, 20 assists). Charalambides is sixth in the nation in goals-per-game, while Kirst is 12th. Charalambides' 3.36 goals-per-game is third best among scorers in the NCAA field. The scoring has also been supplemented from the midfield by Shane Knobloch (15 goals) and David Sprock (14 goals) along with Ryan Gallagher and Ross Scott with seven goals apiece.

On the defensive end, Colin Kirst has shined between the pipes with a 11.27 goals-against-average and leading the Big Ten with a .549 save percentage and 13.27 save per game. The close defense trio of Jaryd-Jean Felix, Garrett Bullett and Bobby Russo have combined for 26 caused turnovers. Long-stick midfielder Ethan Rall shares the team-lead with Jean-Felix with 11 caused turnovers. The Scarlet Knights rotate a stable of short-stick defensive midfielders that have also contributed offensively with Kamish, Zackary Franckowiak, Cole Daninger and Tommy Coyne.

As a team, RU stands in the top-10 in the nation in turnovers (second, 12.27 per game), man-up offense (third, 50%), scoring offense (fifth, 14.82), clearing percentage (eighth, .888), shot percentage (ninth, .329) and assists (8.45).

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY

Rutgers is making its 10th appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Scarlet Knights previously reached the NCAA Tournament in 1972, 1974, 1975, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 2003 and 2004. The NCAA playoff system for men's lacrosse was implemented in 1971. RU last won an NCAA Tournament game in 1990 and are 2-9 all-time in the event, with the first NCAA Tournament victory coming in 1986. 

RECORD CHASING

Adam Charalambides enters the game with 142 goals. He needs two goals to tie Greg Rinaldi for second place all-time in Rutgers history.

Charalambides currently has 193 points, tied with Scott Bieda for eighth place all-time at RU. He can tie Steve Luciano and Ryan O'Shea for sixth place all-time with three more points.

Kieran Mullins enters the game with 124 goals, tied for seventh all-time. He can tie Ryan O'Shea for sixth all-time at RU with four goals.

Mullins currently has 100 assists in his career. He needs one more to tie for seventh and three more assists to tie for sixth most all-time at RU. He is currently second all-time in points in Rutgers history.



QUOTABLE

"I'm proud of our student-athletes for the sacrifices and commitment they've made to allow this to come to fruition. They've earned a great opportunity and I'm very proud of them."
- Head Coach Brian Brecht

"We'll prepare the same, it's just a different challenge. It's been nice to have them on our schedule a handful of times. Those were always tough games. The last two times we played them it was a really physical game. We're eager to face them."
- Senior Captain Ryan Gallagher

NEW HELMETS

The Scarlet Knights will debut a new helmet for the NCAA Tournament, specially made for Rutgers in the postseason. The team will wear red Cascade XRS helmets in the contest.

ABOUT LEHIGH

Ranked 10th nationally, Lehigh went 10-1 in the regular season and claimed the Patriot League championship. However, the Mountain Hawks had seven of their 10 wins against teams that finished four games under .500 or worse, in addition to ranked wins over No. 10 Loyola, No. 7 Army and No. 19 Navy.

Tommy Schelling leads the team with 48 points (24 goals and 24 assists), while Christian Mule leads the team with 31 goals. Second on the team with 25 goals is Cole Kirst, the brother of Rutgers' Connor and Colin Kirst. In goal, James Spence has a 9.62 goals-against-average and .556 save percentage. Mike Sisselberger has won 210 of 264 faceoffs this season, leading the NCAA at 79.5 percent. Lehigh also leads the nation in ground balls per game, and is fourth in scoring offense (14.91) and 13^th in scoring defense (10.0).

ABOUT THE SERIES

The series dates back to 1887, as the Rutgers-Lehigh game on May 18, 1887 was the first ever game that Rutgers lacrosse played. The Scarlet Knights are 39-8-1 all-time against the Mountain Hawks and have won 13 of the past 14 meetings. After Lehigh went 0-5-1 in the first six meetings, RU claimed its first ever win over Lehigh in 1927, and has gone 39-3 in the last 42 meetings. The teams have played twice since 1990, an 8-7 win for RU in 2018 at Lehigh and a 13-10 Lehigh win in 2019 in Piscataway. Rutgers' Ryan Gallagher had goals in the 2019 meeting, while Kieran Mullins had two goals and three assists in both meetings. 

WITH A VICTORY

The winner of the contest will advance to play the winner of the game between No. 1 seed North Carolina and Monmouth. Those two teams play Saturday at noon. If Rutgers defeats Lehigh, RU will advance to play in the Quarterfinals on Saturday, May 22, hosted by Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

A win on Saturday for the Scarlet Knights would represent: 

• Rutgers' first NCAA Tournament win since 1990. 
• The team's third win this season over a team ranked in the top-10 of the national polls.
• The team's fifth win this season over a nationally ranked foe (all in the top-15).
• Rutgers' 40th lifetime win over Lehigh. That would be the second most wins for RU over any one team, trailing just the Penn State series (45 wins over the Nittany Lions).
• The second seeded team RU ever defeated in the NCAA Tournament. Rutgers' previous wins in the NCAA Tournament came against No. 6 Virginia (1990) and unseeded CW Post (1986).