COLLEGE PARK, Md. - No. 3 Rutgers men's lacrosse is on to the Big Ten Championship game. The Scarlet Knights downed No. 12 Ohio State, 12-10, on Thursday night in the semifinals to advance to the title game for the first time since 2016.

RU will play No. 1 Maryland on Saturday night at 8 p.m. The game will be televised by Big Ten Network, with Joe Beninati and Mark Dixon on the call. Chris Tsakonas and Dennis Geissler will have a radio call on WRSU 88.7 FM.

"The focus is always on what we're doing and what we need to do to have success," head coach Brian Brecht explained. "The more focus we have on Rutgers the better we are going to be. When we take care of Rutgers and what we're supposed to be doing, we've been playing pretty good lacrosse this season."

About the Scarlet Knights

Rutgers enters the contest at 13-2 overall, already surpassing the previous program record for wins in a season. RU holds four ranked wins on the season, and the team's two losses have come to teams currently 1 and 2 in the NCAA RPI. Rutgers entered the week 3^rd in the Coaches Poll, 4^th in the Media Poll, and 6^th in the NCAA RPI, well positioned for a first round NCAA Tournament home game.

On Thursday night, the Scarlet Knights showed their mettle with the team's second straight comeback victory, rallying from an 8-5 second half deficit to outscore Ohio State 7-2 in the final 25 minutes of the contest to earn a 12-10 win in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals. RU was led by Mitch Bartolo with four goals, as he canned all four in the second half to spearhead the Rutgers victory. Ross Scott and Ronan Jacoby each joined him with a hat trick, while Shane Knobloch had a goal and three assist to tie the team-high with four points.

Last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Knobloch has excelled this season and especially in the past seven games. Dating back to March 19, Knobloch has seven straight multi-point games with 14 goals and 12 assists, and 10 points over the past two games combined.

On the season, Ross Scott leads RU with 39 goals, 22 assists and 61 points. Scott needs just four points to tie Steve Luciano (1990) and Keith Cromwell (1999) for 9^th on the RU all-time single season points list and can tie Scott Bieda (2016) for eighth with five points. He needs just three goals to tie for 10^th in a single season at RU (Keith Cromwell – 1998, Ryan O'Shea – 1993), four goals to tie for 7^th (Adam Charalambides – 2016, John Howland – 1958 and Jack Daut – 1957), and five goals to tie for fourth (Adam Charalambides – 2021, Keith Cromwell – 1999 and Roger Matthews – 1962).

Colin Kirst has 174 saves on the season, with 12 more he can tie for 10^th on the RU single-season list. He needs 14 more to tie for 9^th and 17 more to tie for 7^th.

With a Victory
A win for the Scarlet Knights would represent:

• The first ever Big Ten Tournament championship for Rutgers men's lacrosse.
• The first ever Big Ten championship for a Rutgers athletics men's program. Rutgers women's field hockey won the first Big Ten Tournament championship for the University in the fall of 2021. The only other Rutgers' program to win a Big Ten title was Rutgers' women's soccer in the fall of 2021.

• The highest ranked win in program history (previously: two wins over No. 3 ranked team in the country… No. 3 Ohio State in 2017 and No. 3 UMass in 2003).
• The program's first win over Maryland since 1980 and second all-time.
• Rutgers fourth ranked win this season in game games against ranked foes (also defeating No. 10/12 Army, No. 19/20 Loyola, No. 8/9 Ohio State, No. 12 Ohio State)
• Rutgers would have 32 wins against ranked teams since 2003, with 15 of them coming against top-10 teams and five of them coming against top-5 teams.
  • Under head coach Brian Brecht, a victory would be the 23^rd ranked win, 11^th top-10 win, and 3^rd top-5 win (No. 4 Ohio State, 2019; No. 3 Ohio State, 2017).
• Rutgers would improve to 9-5 against ranked foes in the past two years.
• Brian Brecht's 14th win of the season would mark a new personal high. He has twice reached 13 wins in a season, this year and in 2011 with Siena. 

Tournament History

Rutgers is making its sixth appearance in the Big Ten Tournament since joining the league in 2015. RU is the No. 2 seed for the third time and second straight season. The Scarlet Knights are 2-4 all-time in Big Ten Tournament action. This is the second time that RU has won a semifinal and appeared in the Big Ten Championship game, along with 2016.

Rutgers Big Ten Tournament Results
2022: No. 2 Rutgers 12, No. 3 Ohio State 10 
2021: No. 6 Johns Hopkins 12, No. 2 Rutgers 10
2019: No. 1 Penn State 18, No. 4 Rutgers 6
2018: No. 1 Maryland 12, No. 4 Rutgers 9
2016: No. 1 Maryland 14, No. 2 Rutgers 8
2016: No. 2 Rutgers 14, No. 3 Johns Hopkins 12

Prior to Thursday's win, SSDM Zackary Franckowiak (a true freshman in 2016 prior to a two-year LDS Mission in St. Petersburg, Russia) was the only RU player on the current roster to play in a Big Ten title game. 

About the Opponent

Maryland enters the contest as the No. 1 team in the nation with a 13-0 record after a 16-11 win over Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten Semifinals. The Terps, who are outscoring opponents 240-126 on the year, have only had two games this season decided by less than five goals.

UM had eight all-conference selections, with the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Logan Wisnauskas (44 goals, 33 assists), Big Ten Defensive Player of Year Brett Makar (23 ground balls, 10 caused turnovers) and Big Ten Specialist of the Year Luke Wierman (216-of-333, 64.5% on faceoffs with 109 ground balls). In goal, Logan McNaney has a 9.10 goals-against-average and 55.6% save percentage.  

About the Series

Rutgers and Maryland have played 34 times dating back to 1928. The lone win for Rutgers came in 1980 in College Park, as the eighth ranked Scarlet Knights upset second-ranked Maryland, 9-8, behind a four-goal final quarter at Byrd Stadium. Senior attackman Bobby Olsen led Rutgers with five goals and two assists while 2021 Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame inductee James Ford had two goals and three assists.

Since joining the Big Ten, the Terps are the only opponent that RU have not beaten in conference play. In that span, they have seven wins over Ohio State, seven wins over Michigan, six over Johns Hopkins and four over Penn State for a 22-18 Big Ten record. RU is 0-9 since joining the Big Ten against the Terps and 24-13 against the other four teams.

Against Number 1

Rutgers is looking for its first ever win over a top-ranked team while facing No. 1 Maryland for the second time this year. Previously, RU fell 17-9 to Maryland in College Park in April. Rutgers also faced a number 1 ranked team in last year's NCAA Quarterfinals, when RU took No. 1 UNC to the brink, falling in overtime. Rutgers faced the number one team in the nation three times in 2019: No. 1 Loyola (13-7 loss), and two matchups against a No. 1 Penn State team (14-13 road loss, 18-6 loss in the Big Ten Tournament). RU faced a No. 1 ranked Maryland team in 2018, falling 11-10. 

Up Next
Following the game, the NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed the next day. The selection show will be held at 9 p.m. on ESPNU on Sunday, May 8.