ANN ARBOR, Mich. – No. 17 Rutgers men's lacrosse saw its season end with a loss to No. 5 Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals, falling 11-7 despite a career-best three goals from senior midfielder Justin Lawler.

Rutgers had qualified for the semifinal by downing No. 13 Michigan last Saturday in the Quarterfinals but were unable to continue the momentum with a semifinal loss, falling to 7-9 on the season. Ohio State improved to 13-2 with the win.

Justin Lawler had his first career hat trick to pace RU with three scores. Colin Kurdyla had two goals, while defenseman Tommy Mendyke and Colin Zeller each added one. Cardin Stoller made seven saves. Matthew Paolatto won 10 faceoffs. Joe Juengerkes and Ryan Splaine each caused two turnovers. Rutgers' 11 caused turnovers as a team tied its season-high. 

Rutgers was undone by 18  turnovers, and saw only two starters on the offensive end find the back of the net. Ohio State, who entered the day with a top-10 scoring defense nationally, held RU to seven goals behind 14 saves from Big Ten Specialist of the Year Caleb Fyock, who entered the day with the second best save percentage in the nation.

Rutgers ultimately outshot Ohio State, 33-32 and held a 26-25 advantage in ground balls. RU won 12-of-22 faceoffs and were 16-of-19 on clears.

Ohio State opened the scoring in the game by converting on their first possession. Rutgers would answer right back with two goals, with Colin Kurdyla scoring a pair of unassisted goals in the first seven minutes of the contest.

OSU answered at the 6:37 mark, with Mariner's second goal of the day answering Kurdyla's two opening tallies. He then made it a first quarter hat trick to give OSU the 3-2 after the first frame.

In the second quarter, Gannon Matthew put Ohio State up by two for the first time on the day at the 9:13 mark of the second quarter, the first goal for the Buckeyes to not come from Mariner.

Ohio State took a 5-2 lead into halftime. The Scarlet Knights were held scoreless in the final 23-minutes of the opening half after Kurdyla's first two tallies, with Big Ten Specialist of the Year Caleb Fyock making a pair of saves on great RU chances right before the first half horn.

In the second half, OSU scored two minutes in to extend their lead to 6-2. RU came right back with a transition score to end the 26-plus minute scoring drought that dated back to the first quarter.

Gaining possession in the offensive zone with defenseman Tommy Mendyke charging in, he did a quick give and go with JJ Aiello and then Mendyke finished with the long pole for his first career goal. Shortly after, a senior scored for RU. Justin Lawler converted from long range to make it two goals in a 2:30 span for RU.

Ohio State answered in transition, turning a save into a fast break offensive chance and a 7-4 lead for OSU. RU answered back with another tally from Justin Lawler, with the senior midfielder getting room for a shot and making it his first multi-goal game. The Buckeyes added a tally late in the third to take an 8-5 lead into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Ohio State scored two quick goals to extend their lead to 10-5. Colin Zeller finished a feed from Dante Kulas in front to make the score 10-6, and Justin Lawler completed his hat trick late, but OSU held on from there.

Rutgers finished the season with seven of its nine losses coming against ranked teams. RU also defeated four ranked teams throughout the year, with only five of the 16 games coming against teams that were not nationally ranked. 

For the season, RU allowed just 8.875 goals per game. The Scarlet Knights did not allow an opponent to score more than 12 goals in any game all year and held foes to single-digit outputs nine times. 

Postgame Notes

• Colin Kurdyla had his eighth multi-goal game of the year, with seven of them coming in the past nine games as well as a nine-game goal scoring streak. He finished as RU's leader on the season in goals (27) and points (40).\
• Kurdyla was named to the Big Ten's All-Tournament Team. He scored six goals across two Big Ten Tournament games. 
• Defenseman Tommy Mendyke, playing in his 46^th career game, had the first goal of his collegiate career.
• Senior midfielder Justin Lawler had a career-high three goals, his first career multi-goal game.
• Freshman JJ Aiello matched his career-high with two assists.