PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 9 Rutgers men's lacrosse hosts No. 4 Maryland Sunday night at 7 p.m.. The game will be Senior Day and the team's annual Alumni Appreciation Day, where RU will honor its 2022 Final Four team at halftime.
ON THE AIR
The game will air nationwide on BTN. Joe Beninati and Mark Dixon will be on the call. WRSU 88.7 FM Student Radio will also broadcast the game on the radio.
SENIOR DAY
Rutgers will honor 21 seniors in a pregame ceremony. Those seniors are
David Sprock,
Joe Neuman,
Mitch Baker,
Ross Scott,
Brian Cameron,
Andrew Kim,
Justin Kim,
Noah Daniels,
Eric Civetti, Dom Carter,
Ethan Rall,
Anthony Palma,
James Ringer,
Jake Norgard,
Quinn Lewis,
Kyle Mullin,
Jack Stahanczyk,
Brad Apgar,
Ryan Decker,
Bobby Russo and
Jonathan Dugenio.
ABOUT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers stands at 8-3 overall and are at 1-2 in Big Ten Conference play. Last weekend, RU grabbed its first Big Ten Conference win of the season in thrilling fashion, toppling No. 16/18 Michigan, 13-12, in overtime, in front of 3,534 fans at SHI Stadium on Friday night.
Shane Knobloch scored the game-winner of the first possession of overtime to give the Scarlet Knights their 16
th straight home win and 8
th straight win over Michigan.
The attack was spurred by the return of
Brian Cameron to the starting lineup, as he had four goals.
Ethan Rall had four caused turnover and seven ground balls, as he was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
Justin Kim also had two goals out of the midfield and has five tallies in the last two games after joining the starting lineup (four goals in his previous 17 games at RU). Rutgers' starting attack trio of Cameron,
Dante Kulas and
Ross Scott, all share a three-way lead for the team-high with 24 goals.
Rutgers had just six turnovers versus the Wolverines, the team's fewest ever in a Big Ten game (dating back to joining the league in 2015). The team averages just 11.82 turnovers per game on the year, best in the nation. RU is also 10
th in scoring defense at 10.18 goals against per game (with goalkeeper
Kyle Mullin leading the Big Ten in GAA).
RU has excelled in the middle two quarters this spring, outscoring opponents, 82-46. RU outscored their foes 45-26 in the second and 43-26 in the third. They've been outscored 36-34 in the first and been outscored 29-28 in the fourth quarter.
RU is at No. 12 in the RPI following their last game. They are 4-3 against the top-20 in the RPI. Both remaining regular season games are against teams currently in the top-6 of the RPI.
"In Big Ten play, it's all about focusing on us," midfielder Shane Knobloch said on the Inside Rutgers Athletics Podcast. "Every team in the Big Ten is good. It doesn't matter about the team in the other color jersey. We just have to focus on all the little things we need to do right."
WITH A VICTORY
A win over No. 4 Maryland would represent:
- Fourth ranked win of the season.
- Second top-five win of the season (also defeated No. 5 Loyola).
- First win over Maryland since 1980 (second all-time).
- 17th straight home win at SHI Stadium.
- An 8-0 home record this season, 15-0 home record over the past two seasons and 19-1 home record over the past three seasons.
- First time since 2003 defeating two top-five opponents in the same season.
- Fourth top-five win since 2019.
HOME COOKING
Rutgers has had great success while in their home white jerseys playing at SHI Stadium. RU is 14-0 at home over the past two seasons and 18-1 over the past three seasons.
2021: 4-1
2022: 7-0
2023: 7-0
ABOUT THE SERIES
Rutgers and Maryland have played 35 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, eight wins over Michigan, six over Johns Hopkins and four over Penn State for a 23-20 Big Ten record. RU is 0-10 since joining the Big Ten against the Terps and 25-15 against the other four teams.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Maryland had a perfect 18-0 unbeaten season last year en route to a national championship. This season, following the graduation of several pieces, the Terps have maintained a 7-3 record to this point, their most losses in a regular season since 2019. Maryland has won four of its past five games, with three ranked wins in that span including No. 1 Virginia and have six ranked wins overall.
Maryland leads the conference in caused turnovers, clearing percentage, faceoff winning percentage and ground balls. Luke Wierman has won 63.1% of his faceoffs (seventh nationally) and is sixth nationally with 9.1 ground balls. Daniel Kelly leads the team with 21 goals. Brett Makar (17 caused turnovers) and Ajax Zappitello (16 caused turnovers) are All-Americans on the defensive end.
All six Big Ten men's lacrosse programs are nationally ranked this week. There is a three-way tie for first place at 2-1 and then a three-way tie for fourth place at 1-2. All the 2-1 teams face all three 1-2 teams this week, setting up the possibility of a six-way tie for first place in the Big Ten entering the final weekend of the regular season.
#ULYSTRONG
Rutgers will be wearing burgundy shoelaces and special burgundy warmups for the remainder of the season in support of their equipment manager, Uly Molina, who was recently diagnosed with throat cancer and is undergoing radiation treatments. Molina graduated from Rutgers in 1989 and has been a member of the equipment staff ever since.
MILESTONE WATCH
Ethan Rall enters the game with 79 caused turnovers. He is 5 shy of RU's record of 84 for a career, set by Nick Contino, who graduated in 2014.
Brian Cameron is four goals away from reaching 100 for his career. He scored 38 with UNC and 58 with Rutgers.
Ross Scott is 12 goals away from reaching 100 for his career.
UP NEXT
Big Ten regular season play concludes Friday, April 21 at No. 5 Penn State (BTN, 6 pm). All six teams will make the Big Ten Tournament. The top two seeds get byes. On Saturday, April 29, the 3 seed hosts the 6 seed and the 4 seed hosts the 5 seed. The top four remaining teams head to Homewood Field for the Big Ten Semifinals (Thursday, May 4) and Championship Game (Saturday, May 6).
