PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's lacrosse starts postseason play this Saturday. The Scarlet Knights earned the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will head on the road to face No. 4 seed Michigan, ranked 13 in the Media and Coaches Polls.
Rutgers enters the weekend with a 6-8 overall record and 2-3 Big Ten record. RU is 3-6 in the past nine games and 2-4 in the last six contests with wins over No. 11 Johns Hopkins and No. 2 Maryland.
Rutgers is 2-4 on the road this season. Both of the road wins came against ranked teams (No. 20 Lehigh and No. 11 Johns Hopkins).
The Scarlet Knights had four players named all-conference in the Big Ten release, tied for the most in the conference.
Goalkeeper
Cardin Stoller was named First Team All-Big Ten after leading the Big Ten with 165 saves. He posted a save percentage of 57.9% and a goals-against-average of 8.76.
Long-stick midfielder
Ryan Splaine was named Second Team All-Big Ten after he had a career-best 44 ground balls and had 15 caused turnovers. He ranked 9
th in the league with 3.14 ground balls per game and 10
th in caused turnovers (1.07).
Short-stick defensive midfielder
Joe Juengerkes was named Second Team All-Big Ten. The team captain compiled 43 ground balls, seven goals, three assists and had 11 caused turnovers.
Attackman
Colin Kurdyla was also named Second Team All-Big Ten. Kurdyla was the team's leading goal scorer (21 goals). He also added 10 assists for a team-high 31 points.
Rutgers also had three student-athletes (
JJ Aiello,
Haydn Sommer and
Colin Zeller) named to the All-Freshman Team.
Colin Kelly was RU's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.
The Wolverines enter the contest at 7-6 overall and 3-2 in Big Ten play. Michigan was 4-4 in non-conference play with losses to ranked foes No. 6 Duke, No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 12 Harvard and No. 16 UNC. After that, UM opened league play with a 3-1 mark after defeating then-No. 1 Maryland, No. 14 Johns Hopkins and No. 18 Rutgers, giving the Wolverines a shot at the Big Ten title and No. 1 seed entering the season's last week. Facing No. 6 Ohio State, Michigan held an 8-5 lead with 6 minutes to play. However, OSU rans off five goals in the final 5:23 of the game and Ohio State won 10-8.
Michigan enters the game ninth in the NCAA in caused turnovers per game (10.15) and 13
th in scoring defense (9.08). Goalkeeper Hunter Taylor has a 51.6% save percentage. Jack Rideout is 75-of-162 on faceoffs (46.3%).
The Wolverines had two First Team all-conference picks and one on the second team. Ryan Cohen, the team leader with 42 points on 17 goals and 25 assists having his second straight season in the top-three of the Big Ten in points, was a First Teamer. Pace Billings was also on the First Team after causing 22 turnovers and scooping 55 ground balls. Aidan Mulholland was a Second Team selection after sharing the team lead with 19 goals from the midfield.
Rutgers and Michigan have played 12 times since 2012 and Rutgers holds a 10-2 all-time mark. RU's nine-game winning streak in the series was snapped earlier this season when the Wolverines earned an 8-6 win in Piscataway.
Colin Kurdyla had three goals,
Cardin Stoller made 14 saves and
Matthew Paolatto was 13-of-18 facing off. However, RU was undone in the game by making a season-high 25 turnovers and going 0-of-5 on the extra-man.
If Rutgers wins, it would advance to the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals, which will be held in Ann Arbor on Thursday, May 1. Rutgers would play No. 1 seed Ohio State at 5 p.m. on Big Ten Network. The other side of the bracket sees No. 3 Penn State face No. 6 Johns Hopkins, with No. 2 seed Maryland waiting in the later semifinal game Thursday. The Big Ten Championship game will be held in Ann Arbor at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 on BTN.
A win over No. 13 Michigan would be Rutgers' fourth ranked win of the season and the third ranked road win of the season. It would be the first time that RU won three true road games against ranked teams since 2003. Rutgers also won three games against ranked teams away from home in 2021, counting the NCAA Tournament game at a neutral site.
