2021 Men's Lacrosse Season In Review
Jul 26 | Men's Lacrosse
Scarlet Knights Advance to NCAA Quarterfinals
The 2021 season marked a breakthrough campaign for the Rutgers men’s lacrosse program. The Scarlet Knights navigated a challenging double round robin conference-only schedule in the grueling Big Ten with ease, finishing the regular season with an 8-2 mark. RU earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, qualifying for the NCAAs for the first time since 2004 and subsequently winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1990.
- The Scarlet Knights went 8-2 in 10 games against Big Ten foes.
- RU claimed four ranked wins (No. 6 Penn State, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 14 Johns Hopkins, No. 14 Ohio State).
- Rutgers had its most ever Big Ten wins, best Big Ten winning percentage and tied for its highest ever finish in the Big Ten standings.
- The Scarlet Knights defeated No. 8 seed Lehigh 12-5 for the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory since 1990. Kieran Mullins, Adam Charalambides and Connor Kirst each scored three goals for RU. Colin Kirst backstopped the Scarlet Knights with 17 saves.
- In the Elite Eight, Rutgers pushed No. 1 seed UNC to the brink, forcing overtime before falling 12-11. Adam Charalambides scored four goals in that game while Colin Kirst made 16 saves.
All-American (Program Record Seven)
Third Team: Colin Kirst, Connor Kirst
Honorable Mention: Adam Charalambides, Jaryd Jean-Felix, Shane Knobloch, Ethan Rall, David Sprock
All-Big Ten (Program Record Six)
First Team: Adam Charalambides, Colin Kirst, Connor Kirst
Second Team: Jaryd Jean-Felix, Kieran Mullins, Ethan Rall
Freshman of the Year: Shane Knobloch
Specialist of the Year: Colin Kirst
Coach of the Year: Brian Brecht
Sportsmanship: Ryan Gallagher
USILA Senior All-Star Game
- Adam Charalambides (MVP), Colin Kirst, Ryan Gallagher, Zach Masessa, Kieran Mullins
Tewaaraton Award Watch List
- Adam Charalambides, Kieran Mullins, Connor Kirst
Big Ten Medal of Honor, Wayne Duke Award, Senior CLASS Award Finalist
- Kieran Mullins
Academic Honors
- 6 Scholar All-Americans
- 25 Academic All-Big Ten
- 9 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars
- 21 Dean’s List Members
- 5 Student-Athletes with 4.0 GPAs in spring semester
- Team GPA: 3.43
Adam Charalambides and Kieran Mullins both finished up spectacular careers that saw both attackman rank among Rutgers’ all-time greats in offensive output.
Charalambides finished his career with 149 goals (second all-time at RU) and 52 assists to total 201 career points (fifth all-time at RU).
Mullins finished his career with 230 career points, second all-time in program history. He reached those marks with 127 goals (seventh all-time at RU) and 103 assists (sixth all-time at RU), one of just two players in program history with both 100+ goals and 100+ assists for their career.
Rutgers spent the majority of the season in the top-ten of the national polls, vaulting to No. 9 in the Coaches Poll following the first week of the season and then staying in the top-ten for the duration of the season.
In the PLL Collegiate Draft, Connor Kirst was drafted seventh overall by the Whipsnakes. He joined six other Rutgers alumni playing in pro lacrosse this summer: Joe Nardella (Whipsnakes), Michael Rexrode and Kyle Pless (Atlas), Jules Heningburg (Redwoods), Christian Mazzone (Archers) and Christian Scarpello (Whipsnakes). Nardella, Heningburg and Rexrode represented for RU at the All-Star Game.
