PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 16 Rutgers men's lacrosse hosts an in-state rival on Sunday afternoon, hosting No. 14/15 Princeton at 12 p.m. on Sunday. The game will be the 101
st meeting all-time between the two programs, the most played series in Rutgers lacrosse history. There will be a live stream via B1G+ with Dom Savino and Rick Mercurio on the call.
The game will be "Wear Your Jersey Day". Any kids eighth grade and younger wearing their lacrosse team's jersey will receive free admission. The two programs are barely separated in the national rankings, with Princeton just two slots higher in the Coaches poll and one spot in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and the USA Lacrosse Magazine Poll.
Rutgers enters the game with a 5-1 overall record. After taking its lone loss of the season to Army, who is now ranked No. 2 in the Coaches Poll this week, the Scarlet Knights are on a three-game winning streak. In the past three games, RU has outscored opponents 43-18 in wins at Loyola (13-5), Hofstra (13-8) and most recently Detroit Mercy on Tuesday (17-5).
The game against Princeton will represent a span of three homes games in eight days at SHI Stadium for the Scarlet Knights. Playing under cold and rainy conditions in their previous two games, the Scarlet Knights had commanding victories over the Pride and Titans. On Tuesday, RU had 42 players see game action, with 11 different goal scorers in the win over UDM.
Shane Knobloch leads the team with 14 goals on the season. The Moorestown, N.J. native has a 15-game scoring streak dating back to last season, which is the 13
th longest streak in the nation and third longest in the Big Ten.
Ross Scott paces the team with 25 points and 15 assists. Scott enters this weekend's game with 99 career goals, just one shy of the century mark.
Rutgers six offensive starters (Knobloch – 14 goals,
Jack Aimone – 13, Scott – 10,
Colin Kurdyla – 9,
Dante Kulas – 7,
Tanyr Krummenacher – 7) have combined for 60 of the team's 80 goals this season (75%). Freshman
Colin Kurdyla has come on of late, with a pair of hat tricks in the past four games. He is the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week in recognition of his three goals in the win over Hofstra.
"Going into Princeton, the 101
st meeting against them, this has been a long-time rivalry for this program," Kurdyla said. "Having that Tots Meistrell Cup in New Brunswick right now just means more, to have that in our locker room. Going against Princeton, our mentality is just to go as hard as we can for 60 minutes and bring that cup back into our locker room."
In between the pipes, two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week
Cardin Stoller has a 53.6% save percentage and 59 saves on the year to go with a 9.87 goals-against-average.
Tommy Mendyke leads the team with six caused turnovers.
For the season, Rutgers is second nationally with just 13.17 turnovers per game. The Scarlet Knights led the nation last season in the stat category the past two seasons and finished second in 2021. Over the previous five seasons, RU has finished no worse than seventh in the nation in turnovers per game.
RU also possesses the No. 7 man-up offense in the nation.
Shane Knobloch's four man-up goals are third nationally.
Princeton comes into the game with a 3-2 record. The Tigers have beaten Monmouth, Manhattan and UNC and fallen to Maryland and Duke. This will represent the Tigers' fourth straight road game against a ranked team, with the lone ranked win coming at the Tar Heels.
Coulter Mackesy, who broke the Princeton men's lacrosse single-season goals record with 55 as a sophomore, leads the team with 22 points and 12 goals. Nate Kabiri has a team-best 14 goals, while Colin Burns has added 12 goals. The Tigers graduated their top four midfielders from last season.
In the cage for the Tigers, Michael Gianforcaro, who was second in Division I in save percentage last season, is currently seventh in the nation this season in save percentage (58.0%) and is ninth in saves per game (13.8). Andrew McMeekin is 50-of-103 (48.5%) on faceoffs with Tyler Sandoval limited to 6-of-21 this season in his return from injury. Pace Billings is a returning all-conference selection on defense.
This will be the 101st all-time meeting between Rutgers and Princeton, serving as the seventh longest contested series in the NCAA. The Tigers hold a 64-32-3 advantage overall. The teams have faced off against one another consistently every season since 1922, with the exception of 1944 and 1945 for World War II and the Covid-impacted 2021 schedule.
The most recent matchup last season saw Rutgers win an overtime thriller at home and claim the Meistrell Cup, named in honor of U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Famer Harland (Tots) Meistrell, who restarted the lacrosse programs at both schools in the early 1920s. In that game,
Dante Kulas' game-high fourth goal of the contest won it for RU, just 1:18 into overtime, on an assist from
Shane Knobloch.
Brian Cameron recorded a hat trick,
Joe Neuman was 11-of-19 at the X and won the most important faceoff off the day to start overtime, while goalkeeper
Kyle Mullin made 13 saves in the net.
In 2017, Rutgers claimed a 16-11 win over the Tigers, the first win for the program over Princeton at that point since 2005, as Jules Heningburg led the way with seven points. Starting with that 2017 game, RU is 3-3 against Princeton. Prior to that, Princeton had an 11-game winning streak and had won 26 out of the previous 27 matchups. Rutgers has currently three straight home wins in the series.
- Rutgers would win its 33rd game against Princeton all-time and have four straight home wins and 4-3 in the last seven games against Princeton overall.
- Rutgers would win back-to-back games against Princeton for the first time since 1988 and 1989.
- Fourth straight home win over Princeton
- 17-2 home record over the past three seasons.
- 21-3 in non-conference play over the past three seasons.
- 6-1 start to the season for the third straight season.
- First ranked win of season
Rutgers has its final non-conference game of the season next week. The Scarlet Knights will meet UMass at a neutral site on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Long Island. The game will be played at Weldon E. Howitt Middle School as part of the Dalers Lacrosse Classic presented by Shore 2 Shore Lacrosse.
