PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's lacrosse is back home this Saturday for a rivalry matchup. The No. 11/12 Scarlet Knights will host the No. 6/7 Army Black Knights on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The game will be live streamed on B1G+ plus with Alex Schoen and Rick Mercurio on the call. A former faceoff specialist at Rutgers from 2015-2019, Schoen won 218 faceoffs and collected 89 ground balls in his Scarlet Knights career. WRSU 88.7FM, Rutgers' student radio station, will also provide a radio call of the matchup. There will be a giveaway of free hot chocolate, "R Lacrosse" hats and USA Block R magnets while supplies last.
Rutgers will enter the matchup after winning games over Lehigh (14-12) and at Stony Brook (16-12), holding a 2-0 record to start the season for the ninth consecutive year. Rutgers is fifth nationally in fewest turnovers (14.0 per game) and eighth in shot percentage (.370). The team remains 100% on man-up opportunities and is 12
th in the country in both ground balls (36.5) and assists (9.0).
The Scarlet Knights have 30 goals this year, coming from 11 different goal scorers, which includes three attackmen, six midfielders, a faceoff specialist and a long-stick midfielder. The team is led by
Jack Aimone's seven goals, while
Ross Scott has five goals and six assists for a team-best 11 points. The team's three preseason Big Ten Players to Watch (Aimone, Scott and
Shane Knobloch) have combined for 17 goals and eight assists through two games, representing 57% of the team's goals and 52% of the team's points. Both Scott and Knobloch are on the top-50 Watch List for the Tewaaraton Award.
Rutgers' has been recognized with two USILA Team of the Week members. After
Ross Scott was recognized on the opening week, defenseman
Tommy Mendyke earned the honor after posting three caused turnovers and four ground balls at SBU.
The Scarlet Knights have deployed two faceoff specialists, with similar statistics and positive results.
Cole Brams is at 62.9% (22-of-35) with 16 ground balls, while
Matt Soutar is at 63.0% (17-of-27) with nine ground balls. In goal, redshirt freshman
Cardin Stoller, the opening week Big Ten Freshman of the Week, has made 19 saves.
Army, who held its highest ranking at the start of a season in program history, is as high as No. 6 in the polls this week. Under head coach Joe Alberici, who is 162-108 in his 19 seasons in West Point, the Black Knights used a fourth quarter comeback in the opener to defeat mutual opponent UMass, 13-12.
Will Coletti, a Preseason All-American, earned Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Week honors following a 20-of-28 performance at the 'X' with 13 ground balls. Jackson Eicher and Jacob Morin each also contributed a hat trick in the opener.
The Black Knights were 13-4 overall last season and 7-1 in Patriot League play. That squad won the Patriot League Championship and took down Maryland in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to another Big Ten team in Penn State.
This will be the 86
th meeting between the two schools, the second most played rivalry in program history behind Princeton. The Scarlet Knights have won 24, with one tie. Last season, a heated battle went Army's way, 14-13, with
Ross Scott leading the team with five goals, and
Jack Aimone adding two. Rutgers won the last home meeting, claiming a 13-10 win over then-No. 10 Army at SHI Stadium in 2022 behind a hat trick from
Shane Knobloch.
Ross Scott has six goals and three assists in his three career games against the Black Knights.
- First ranked win of the season
- Fourth straight year with a top-10 win (most recently No. 5/6 Loyola last season).
- Starting a season with a 3-0 record for the third time in the past four years.
- Rutgers would improve to 15-1 at home over the past three seasons and 19-2 over the past four.
- 2-1 in last three games against Army, with both wins coming against an Army team ranked in the top-10 nationally.
Rutgers returns to the road next weekend for another challenging game against a Patriot League foe. RU will play at No. 17/20 Loyola next Saturday.
