FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – No. 19 Rutgers men's lacrosse traveled to a neutral site on Long Island to face UMass and came away with a 10-9 win over the Gorillas. The game was played in front of over 1,500 fans at Weldon E. Howitt Middle School in Farmingdale.
"I'm very proud of the team," head coach
Brian Brecht said. "I want to thank the organizers of this event, it was a great atmosphere for our guys to play in, they were definitely excited at breakfast this morning. UMass is a good team that will compete for their conference championship and I was happy that we came in and got a win over that team heading into Big Ten play."
Cardin Stoller led the Scarlet Knights with a career-high 19 saves, including a stop on the final possession to seal the victory.
Shane Knobloch led RU with three goals, including the game-winning goal with 2:13 to play.
"It all goes back to our preparation, getting prepared for situations like that," Stoller explained. "It was an awesome feeling, that is what you play the game for. To execute in that situation in a game when it comes down to the wire like that is awesome."
Ross Scott had two goals for RU.
Colin Kurdyla (three assists),
Colin Kelly,
Tanyr Krummenacher,
Nick Teresky and
Ryan Splaine all had one goal apiece.
RU had a 50-39 advantage in shots and 32-25 in ground balls. The Scarlet Knights were 13-of-22 on faceoffs and 19-of-21 on clears.
In the first quarter, Rutgers got out to a 3-2 lead following a goal in transition from long-stick midfielder
Ryan Splaine.
Colin Kelly also scored his first RU goal on the man-up. UMass answered back with the next two goals for a 4-3 lead after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Rutgers scored the first two goals, taking a 5-4 lead halfway through the second. UMass finished the second quarter with the last three goals over the final six minutes, taking a 7-5 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, RU took control of the game with a 4-1 advantage in the game, scoring the first three goals of the stanza to take the lead at 8-7 after a
Nick Teresky marker. UMass would answer RU goals twice to equalize. UMass tied the game at 9-9 with 12 minutes to play. In the final 12 minutes, the game would see only one more goal, Knobloch's game-winner with 2:13 to play. The game came down to the final possession, with UMass going on the man-up after a timeout with just over six seconds to play, but Stoller stopped a shot at the horn to clinch the win.
"This was a great win," Long Island native
Nick Teresky said. "We wanted to get that momentum going into Big Ten play. It was good to get that goal here on Long Island. This was an awesome experience. As soon as the schedule came out with that game on Long Island, I had that circled on my calendar. It was a great environment out there today."
Postgame Notes
- Colin Kelly had his first Rutgers goal
- With the win, RU has two straight wins over UMass
- Rutgers has started the season with an 6-2 record (or better) through eight games for the fourth straight season
- RU is 21-4 in non-conference play over the past three seasons.
- Ross Scott moved past Bob Kelly is in now 12th all-time at RU in goals.
Up Next
Following this game, Rutgers will start Big Ten play. The first game comes against Johns Hopkins, ranked in the top-eight of both polls. That game is at 4:30 pm on Sunday, with a national television broadcast on Big Ten Network. Rutgers plays its next two games at home, with the matchup against the Blue Jays followed by a game against Ohio State on Saturday, March 30.
