PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 8 Rutgers men's lacrosse is back in action this Saturday, traveling to Long Island to face Hofstra. First face off on Saturday is at 1 p.m. for the team's nonconference finale.
The game will mark the return to James M. Shuart Stadium for Rutgers, the site of the team's NCAA Quarterfinal matchup against No. 1 UNC. The road game marks the fourth straight weekend on the road, making it four out of five games on the road overall.
Rutgers is looking for a victory to finish non-conference play with an 8-1 record. That would match the 2017 team for the most non-conference wins in program history, dating back to RU joining the ECAC in 2000.
Saturday will mark the team's second game this week after a midweek victory as RU downed Lafayette 22-10 on Tuesday. The Scarlet Knights had 12 different goal scorers, led by four goals and three assists from
Ross Scott and four goals from
Ronan Jacoby.
Mitch Bartolo,
Brian Cameron,
Jack Aimone and
Dante Kulas. Rutgers reached the 20-goal plateau for the second time this season and marked the fifth time in the past two seasons that RU had scored at least 22 goals.
Rutgers now has three players with at least 20 goals on the season:
Ross Scott (24),
Mitch Bartolo (20) and
Ronan Jacoby (20). The Scarlet Knights are one of just two schools in the nation with three players with 20+ goals, joining Michigan. Bartolo has already surpassed his career-highs in goals, assists (9) and points (29).
LSM
Ethan Rall had four ground balls and four caused turnovers against Lafayette, and has career-highs this season with 27 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers. With 53 career caused turnovers for his career, he is on the verge of passing Rutgers' recent All-Americans Michael Rexrode (55) and Kyle Pless (59) in the program's career record book. He leads the Big Ten and is sixth nationally at 2.29 per game. As a team, Rutgers is third nationally in turnovers (13.57/game) and clearing percentage (90.3%).
The game will be broadcast on LSN with Travis Eldridge and Brendan McDaniels on the call. WRSU Student Radio will also have a radio broadcast.
Live Stream |
Live Stats
Hofstra enters the game 4-4 overall, receiving votes in the polls. The team's 4-2 start included a 1-1 record vs. mutual opponents with RU (win over St. John's, loss to LIU).
The Pride boasts a scoring defense that's in the top-10 nationally (9.12 goals per game), with Mac Gates 8
th nationally with a 9.07 goals-against-average and 10
th in save percentage (57.9). Bryan McIntosh is fourth in the country at 2.75 caused turnovers per game. Gerard Kane leads the team with 12 goals and 17 points.
This will be the 32
nd meeting between the two programs, with the all-time series dating back to 1954. Rutgers holds a 16-15 advantage, with the Scarlet Knights winning in 2019 (10-7), the first meeting between the two schools since 1999. Among current Scarlet Knights,
Ryan Gallagher had two goals and one assist in that 2019 game, while
Ethan Rall had a team-high four ground balls.
Rutgers had 12 different goal scorers in a
22-10 win over Lafayette, led by four goals and three assists from
Ross Scott and four goals from
Ronan Jacoby. The tally marked the second time this season and fifth time over the past two seasons that RU reached 22+ goals.
After completing non-conference play against the Pride, Rutgers will return home to begin Big Ten play. RU welcomes No. 7 Ohio State on Sunday, March 27, a noon game on ESPNU.
