BALTIMORE - No. 9/9 Rutgers men's lacrosse battled a top-10 team on the road, but ultimately fell at No. 7/7 Johns Hopkins, 16-12. RU was led by three goals from midfielders Justin Kim and Shane Knobloch. Noah Daniels had two goals.

Rutgers led in shots (38-28), ground balls (37-25), faceoffs (17-14) and was 21-of-23 on clears. Anthony Palma played the final 45 minutes in goal and made nine saves. David Sprock, Dante Kulas and Jonathan Dugenio each added a goal.

"There were a lot of little moments throughout the course of a sixty-minute game that we needed to be a little sharper on," head coach Brian Brecht explained. "Justin Kim stepped up big for us, Shane Knobloch was a threat in the middle of the field. We just needed some other guys to step up and seize the moment for us."

The game was high scoring in the early going. Ross Scott scored on the game's first possession, wrapping around the net to tally. David Sprock tallied shortly after, as RU had an early 2-1 advantage.

Johns Hopkins stormed back, getting out to an early 7-3 lead. RU answered back with the next two goals to finish the quarter strong. Noah Daniels scored quick off a faceoff win, and then Shane Knobloch beat his man and lasered one home to let RU finish the first frame with momentum.

To open the second quarter, Jonathan Dugenio won the faceoff and raced down the field for a quick goal. Just five seconds in the quarter, RU had made it a 3-0 run to get back within one. 10 minutes into the second quarter, RU earned a man-up, and just after it expires, Shane Knobloch scored on the run to even the game at 7-7. That extended the RU run to 4-0 over as 12-minute span.

Hopkins went back up 8-7 at the 4:39 mark of the second quarter. Shane Knobloch answered right back to tie at 8-8.

After trailing 7-3 early, RU used a 5-1 run over the last 17 minutes of opening half for an 8-8 halftime tie.

To start the third quarter, Justin Kim heated up. Making his first career start on his birthday, the senior midfielder scored back-to-back goals early in the third quarter. His first career multi-goal game put RU ahead 10-8.

Hopkins came back with a 3-0 run over a 3:48 span to retake the lead at 11-10.

Noah Daniels had another transition tally to tie the game at 11-11. Hopkins then went ahead 13-11 before Justin Kim completed his hat trick to make it a one-goal game. JHU added another goal to go ahead 14-12 with five minutes to play, and another with three minutes left for a 15-12 lead, and they were able to close out the game.

Postgame Notes

-       Short-stick defensive midfielder Noah Daniels has now scored in four straight games after just one goal in the first six games.
-       Attackman Brian Cameron returned to game action for the first time since March 11, seeing action on the man-up offense.
-       Goalkeeper Anthony Palma saw his most extensive action of the season in the cage.
-       Senior Justin Kim, making his first career start on his birthday, had his first career multi-goal game and had a career-high four points.
-       Noah Daniels had his second straight multi-goal game and has six goals over his past four games.
- Dante Kulas had a career-high five ground balls. 
- Tommy Mendyke had a career-high two ground balls, playing extended action at long-stick midfield.
-       Johns Hopkins is now 6-5 versus RU since joining the Big Ten


Up Next

Rutgers returns home for the next two games. The Scarlet Knights host Michigan (Friday, April 7 at 6 pm) and then Maryland for Senior Day / Alumni Appreciation Day (Sunday, April 16 at 7 pm)