PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 16 Rutgers men's lacrosse is right back in action on Tuesday, as the Scarlet Knights will host Detroit Mercy. The game starts at 3 p.m. with a live stream on B1G+.
It is Rutgers' lone midweek game of the season. Dating back to 2017, Rutgers is 6-1 in its last seven midweek games, and have won three straight. In it's last midweek game, RU downed St. John's 20-6 last season. Rutgers is 4-1 in games on Tuesdays dating back to 2016.
Rutgers enters the game at 4-1 overall. The Scarlet Knights have won the past two games (13-5 over Loyola and 13-8 over Hofstra) by an average margin of 6.5 goals. In those games, RU held commanding halftime advantages of 10-4 (Hofstra) and 9-2 (Loyola). Rutgers also held a 13-6 lead midway through the third quarter in the win at Stony Brook.
Rutgers is fifth nationally on man-up offense (63.6%) with
Shane Knobloch's three man-up tallies ranking second nationally. RU is also in the top-10 in turnovers, seventh at 14.0 per game.
Rutgers holds a 19-3 record in non-conference play over the past three seasons. RU is 15-2 at home over the past three seasons and 19-3 over the past four seasons.
Ross Scott enters the game with 98 goals, just two shy of 100 for his career. He needs 15 more points to tie Jack Daut for 10
th all-time at RU.
Rutgers top four leading point scorers this season are their top four returning point scorers from last season, and were four of the top five scorers on that team overall, only missing the graduated
Brian Cameron.
Ross Scott leads the team in points (22) and assists (13).
Shane Knobloch (13) has the goal lead by one over
Jack Aimone (12), while
Dante Kulas has 13 points on seven goals and six assists. Freshman
Colin Kurdyla has posted hat tricks in two of the past three games and has eight goals on the year.
Defensively,
Mason Rickens joined the starting lineup at close defense against Hofstra. He became the fourth Scarlet Knight defenseman to make their first career start this season.
Goalkeeper
Cardin Stoller in coming off another strong performance in between the pipes. Against Hofstra, the redshirt freshman had 11 saves and a 57.9% save percentage against the Pride, and has at least nine saves in each game this season as the two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Detroit Mercy enters the game at 0-2, with losses to Marquette (22-8) and VMI (15-10). The Titans, who will face another Big Ten foe in their following game in Ohio State, have played at least one Big Ten foe in each of the past three non-Covid adjusted scheduled seasons.
The Tians are coached by Chris Kolon, who is in his 10
th season at the helm of the program and 16
th overall on their sidelines. Kolon played at Rutgers, lettering for four years as a defenseman and graduating in 1999.
Detroit is last in the nation in scoring defense through its two games played and in the bottom five in faceoff percentage, ground balls, and points per game.
Luke Majick had his seventh career hat trick on Saturday against VMI. The midfielder was named Preseason All-Atlantic Sun. 2023 Atlantic Sun All-Freshman Team selection Drew Kessenich scored two goals in the opener against Marquette.
This will be the first ever meeting between Rutgers and Detroit. This is the lone opponent that RU will face for the first time this season. Every other regular season scheduled opponent for the Scarlet Knights this season has been played at least as recently as 2021.
- 5-1 start to the season for the second consecutive year, and third straight year with at least five wins in its first six games.
- 16-2 record at home over the past three seasons.
- 20-3 record in non-conference play over the past three seasons.
Rutgers remains at SHI Stadium for its third home game in eight days. The Scarlet Knights will battle in-state rival No. 14/15 Princeton for the Tots Meistrell Cup on Sunday, March 10.
