Men’s Lacrosse Trips to No. 3 Ohio State

Saturday, March 29

Columbus, Ohio

1:00 PM

Rutgers University

Ohio State

Mar 27 | Men's Lacrosse

Rutgers Game Notes Live Stats Live Stream

RU to Face Buckeyes at 1 pm Saturday

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Coming off a huge win last weekend at No. 11 Johns Hopkins, Rutgers men's lacrosse heads back on the road. The Scarlet Knights play at No .3 Ohio State at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be live streamed on B1G+.

About Rutgers

Rutgers will enter the game at 5-5 overall and 1-0 in league play. Last Saturday, RU traveled to Baltimore and brought home a huge 11-8 win over No. 11 Johns Hopkins. The Scarlet Knights used a 5-0 second half run, shutting out the Blue Jays for a 26:33 span to take command of the game.

RU held JHU to a season-low in goals to claim their second ranked win of the season. The victory was the highest ranked win for RU since defeating No. 5 Loyola on Feb. 25, 2023 and the highest ranked road win since defeating No. 6 Ohio State on Feb. 27, 2021.

Redshirt freshman Haydn Sommer scored three goals in the game to lead the squad, earning Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. It was a breakout performance for the RU midfielder, who had his first multi-goal game after tallying twice in his initial nine games.

Rutgers is in the top-15 in the national stats in scoring defense (ninth, 8.4), clearing percentage (11^th, 89.1 percent), face-off winning percentage (11^th, 58.6%) and opponent clearing percentage (14^th, 80.2%).

Matthew Paolatto is eighth nationally and first in the Big Ten in faceoff winning percentage (61.9%). Cardin Stoller is eighth nationally in goals-against-average (8.35 GAA) and ninth in save percentage (60.1%).

Colin Kelly has scored seven goals across the last three games. He is one point away from 100 in his collegiate career (across Canisius and Rutgers – 84 goals – 15 assists). Kelly is second on the team in goals (13) and points (15), behind team leader Colin Kurdyla (14 goals, 21 points).

About Ohio State

Ohio State enters the game with the second best winning percentage in the NCAA at .900. The Buckeyes are 9-1 overall, dropping their first game to Utah, and then running off a nine-game winning streak. In that stretch, OSU defeated three of the 2024 Final Four teams, and are coming off a 13-9 win at then-No. 4 Penn State. The Buckeyes have outscored opponents by a 120-62 margin in that winning streak and have held foes to single-digits in seven of the nine games.

OSU is fifth in the nation with 11.2 caused turnovers per game, led by Cullen Brown averaging 2.5 CT/game (most in the league). The Buckeyes are also seventh in the country in scoring defense at 8.1 goals allowed per game, just ahead of RU (who is ninth at 8.4 goals per game). Bobby van Buren, a two-time All-Big Ten defenseman, has caused 12 turnovers.

Alex Mariner averages 3.1 goals per game, best in the Big Ten, having tallied 31 times in 10 games. Garrett Haas has 28 points (16 goals, 12 assists), while Ryan Donnery (15 goals), Shane O'Leary (13 goals) and Ed Shean (12 goals) have contributed to the offense.

Goalkeeper Caleb Fyock, who didn't start in the team's loss in the season-opener, is 9-0 with a 6.35 goals-against-average (second nationally) and a 62.8% save percentage (third nationally). Jack Oldman is 109-of-191 on faceoffs (57.1%) with 79 ground balls.

About the Series

Rutgers leads the all-time series against Ohio State, 13-5. The Scarlet Knights have won five of the past seven games, with a current two-game winning streak for OSU snapping a 5-game Scarlet Knights winning streak. Since the two became conference foes, RU is 7-4 against Ohio State. Rutgers will be looking for its first road win at OSU since 2021.

A win over No. 3 Ohio State Would Be...

Highest ranked win in program history, matching wins over No. 3 Penn (2022 NCAA Tournament), No. 3 Ohio State (2017) and No. 3 UMass (2003).
Second consecutive ranked win
First time defeating ranked Big Ten teams in back-to-back wins since February of 2021
First top-10 win since Feb. 25, 2023 vs. No. 5 Loyola
Victories in 8 of the past 12 games and six of the past eight games against Ohio State

Up Next

Big Ten play continues with the Scarlet Knights returning home to SHI Stadium for the next two games. RU hosts No. 2 Maryland (Saturday, April 5) and No. 19 Michigan (Sunday, April 13) before closing out league play at No. 7/6 Penn State (Friday, April 18).