PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's lacrosse returns to SHI Stadium for the first time since March 15 to host No. 2 Maryland on Saturday. It is the Blackout Game, with fans encouraged to wear black and a t-shirt giveaway for fans. Game time is 5 p.m., with a live stream on B1G+ with Dom Savino and Alex Schoen on the call, and a radio broadcast from RU Student Radio (88.7 FM).
The Scarlet Knights come into the game with a 5-6 overall record and a 1-1 mark in conference play. No. 2 Maryland will be the fourth straight ranked opponent that RU faces and the seventh overall through 12 games, with all remaining opponents this season projecting to be ranked.
Last weekend, RU went on the road to Columbus and battled tough and nail with the No. 3 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The Scarlet Knights were tied at 6-6 at the start of the third quarter and within one goal in the fourth quarter, but OSU pulled away at the end. RU got three goals from the long-stick midfield position, with
Ryan Splaine notching his first career two-goal game and
Kyle Worsnup recording his first career goal.
Matthew Paolatto was 16-of-28 facing off with a season-high 11 ground balls.
Rutgers opened league play with a tremendous effort on the road to claim an 11-8 win over No. 11 Johns Hopkins. In that game, redshirt freshman midfielder
Haydn Sommer had his first career hat trick and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
Defensively, RU has allowed just 8.82 goals per game, third in the league and 15
th nationally. The Scarlet Knights had allowed 11 or fewer goals in every game until last week, and have held opponents in single digits six times.
Matthew Paolatto also appears in the national rankings at 12
th with a 61.2% winning percentage. He was one of three RU players to be named Midseason All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse, joining Joe short stick defensive midfielder
Joe Juengerkes and Tewaaraton Award Watch List goalkeeper
Cardin Stoller.
Colin Kelly 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), behind
Colin Kurdyla, who leads RU in goals (16), assists (9) and points (25).
Maryland enters the weekend at 8-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The team's lone loss came in triple overtime to Michigan, while boasting ranked wins over No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 Syracuse, No. 5 Princeton, No. 18 Virginia, and No. 18 Richmond.
Maryland is in the top-10 nationally in scoring defense (second, 7.56), man-down defense (second, 90.9%), clearing percentage (seventh, 89.9%) and turnovers (10
th, 14.67). Defensively, the Terps have held opponents to under 10 goals in seven of the nine games.
Maryland goalkeeper Logan McNaney, set to play in his 65
th career game as a Terp across six seasons, has a 62.8% save percentage and 7.41 goals-against-average. Both stats by the two-time All-American rank third nationally. He has made five starts previously against Rutgers with 55 saves and 39 goals allowed.
The team has balanced goal scoring with five players (Bryce Ford, Matthew Keegan, Braden Erksa, Daniel Kelly and Eric Spanos) between 13 and 17 goals. Shea Keethier has been the top faceoff man at 57.7% (56-of-97), with three players taking multiple faceoffs in Big Ten play.
Maryland head coach John Tillman has won 189 games across his 15 seasons at the helm of the program. Since joining the Big Ten in 2015, Maryland is 42-10 in conference play.
Rutgers and Maryland have played 38 times dating back to 1928. Rutgers lone win in the series came in 1980, a 9-8 victory for the Scarlet Knights. RU is looking to snap a current 19-game winning streak for the Terps, who are the lone Big Ten foe that RU has not beaten since joining the league in 2015.
- Highest ranked win in program history (previous best: No. 3, three times, most recently over No. 3 Penn in 2022 NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals.
- First win over Maryland since 1980
- First 2-1 start to Big Ten play since going 4-1 in conference play in 2022
- Third ranked win of the season
- First top-10 win since Feb. 25, 2023 vs. No. 5 Loyola
Rutgers remains home next weekend to host No. 13 Michigan at 12 p.m. Sunday, a game televised by Big Ten Network. It will be Senior Day and Alumni Appreciation Day. Rutgers will honor the 1955, 1975 and 1990 teams at the game, as well as graduating seniors.
