Men’s Lacrosse: 2026 Season Preview
Jan 26 | Men's Lacrosse
A new season is on the horizon for Rutgers men’s lacrosse. With the season starting earlier and earlier each season, in 2026, the Scarlet Knights will begin the upcoming season in January. As New Jersey digs itself out of a winter snowstorm last weekend that dropped over a foot of snow on the ground in Piscataway, RU is set to fly south, and begins the season this Saturday, January 31 in Naples, Florida. The Scarlet Knights face Jacksonville University in the season opener in the Paradise Lacrosse Kickoff Classic. With the countdown ticking down until the season begins, we preview the upcoming campaign.
Last season, Rutgers defeated four ranked foes. The season was highlighted by a historic win over No. 2 ranked Maryland. An 8-6 victory was the Scarlet Knights first win over the Terps since 1980 and matched the highest ranked victory in program history. Rutgers also claimed a huge win in the Quarterfinals by claiming an 11-8 win over No. 13 Michigan on the road in Ann Arbor. To finish the year, Rutgers was ranked in the top-20 in all the final three major polls.
Rutgers had four players named Preseason All-Americans this season, giving fans a sense of the top RU players to watch this season. All four players came from a different position group: an attackman, goalkeeper, long-stick midfielder and short-stick defensive midfielder.
Ryan Splaine (Second Team), Joe Juengerkes (Third Team), Colin Kurdyla (Honorable Mention) and Cardin Stoller (Honorable Mention) were all recognized. The quartet returns after all four were named All-Americans and All-Big Ten selections last year. Juengerkes, Kurdyla and Stoller were additionally named Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch, while Kurdyla and Stoller were ranked among the top-50 players in the nation by Inside Lacrosse in their preseason player rankings.
Splaine, a long-stick midfielder, had 17 caused turnovers and 49 ground balls last season. The Islip, N.Y. native was also an All-ECAC selection and has seen action in 39 career games as a top LSM at RU.
Juengerkes, a short-stick defensive midfielder, had 16 caused turnovers, 55 ground balls, seven goals and four assists. He was named a team captain for last season ahead of his first season with the program, following a transfer from Princeton, and resumes that role this season as the team’s sole captain for 2026.
Kurdyla led the team with 27 goals and 40 points. He recorded eight multi-goal games, with seven of them coming in the final nine games as well as a nine-game goal scoring streak to close the year as he closed his sophomore season in stride. He named a captain of the Team USA U-20 squad over the summer that travelled to Korea for the World Lacrosse Championships and had 13 goals in the event to be named to the All-World Team.
Stoller established himself as one of the nation’s top goalkeeper’s last season, as he was an All-American, on the Top 25 on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List and was the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year. Stoller finished 6th in the nation in goals-against-average (8.85) and 11th in save percentage (56.4%), ranking 3rd in the Big Ten in both categories, posting 182 saves - 11.25 saves per game.
“The team is doing really well right now. We had a great fall. A lot of energy, great attitude, great effort, great competition. The offense is dialed in, the defense is too. A lot of competition between those two sides in practice every day. When Saturday comes, we’ll be ready to go.”Joe Juengerkes
The Scarlet Knights accomplished a great deal considering their youth last season. Offensively, five of their top six in points last season were in their first or second on-field season of collegiate lacrosse. Rutgers graduated just one of its top 12 goal scorers last season (Dante Kulas) and brings back the top nine goal scorers.
Rutgers leading scorer Colin Kurdyla returns, with his 27 goals nine more than second place, and his 40 points being 16 more than the next returner. The returning group includes three offensive players who were named to the Big Ten’s inaugural All-Freshman Team last season: JJ Aiello, Haydn Sommer and Colin Zeller.
Colin Kelly (16 goals), Colin Zeller (13 goals), Shane Murphy (12 goals) and JJ Aiello (11 goals, 13 assists) all made up the top-five in goal scoring, with Sommer posting 21 points on six goals and a team-high 15 assists. Sommer’s six goals included a hat trick in the win over No. 11 Johns Hopkins.
A key newcomer for the RU offense is transfer Brendan Kelly. He played in 42 games at BU across the last three seasons and displayed scoring mettle with 43 goals in 2024. Jack Lonsinger also comes in from Bryant with 88 career goals and 109 points in 46 games. Rutgers also brings back experienced offensive threats Justin Lawler, Kasey Mongillo, Duke Richman, Greyson Vorgang, Brady Kurdyla and Bennett Raphalian, among others.
“Coming back this spring has been great. Our guys were really putting in the work over winter break and we’re really meshing together with our team culture. We’re on a great track heading into the season.”Duke Richman
Rutgers excelled on the defensive end last season under defensive coordinator Jimmy Ryan, buoyed by Cardin Stoller in goal. Rutgers was 6th nationally in scoring defense at 8.88 goals per game allowed. This was the lowest goals per game allowed by Rutgers since 2011 and first time in the top-10 nationally in scoring defense in over 15 years.
Rutgers did not allow more than 13 goals in a game all season (first time since 2017). Rutgers had 136 caused turnovers (8.5 per game), the program's most CT/game since 2017. Rutgers' opponents averaged 19.5 turnovers per game, most in the Big Ten era.
It will be a new look to the back end group this year, as RU brings back just one of the three starters at close defense in Ben McKelvy. The 6-5, 225 product of DeMatha Catholic in Maryland has started all 30 games across the past two years, with 36 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers in that span. McKelvy will welcome two new mates alongside him as last season’s other two starters, Tommy Mendyke and Ben Stephanos, have graduated. With two spots open, Conor Udovich has 26 career games and four starts, while newer faces Dylan Groff, Cam Hitchcock, Deacon Adams and Avery Bowerman all factor into the mix.
“This spring has started out great. It was a really strong fall and then getting back this month has been great, with great leadership from our captain Joe Juengerkes and all our coaches. The energy that everyone brings every day has been unbelievable and we’re excited to get going.”Ben McKelvy
It will be a new group at the faceoff X this season for RU. Matthew Paolatto was the team’s primary faceoff man last season, earning All-American recognition after winning 173 faceoffs (59.2%, second in the Big Ten). Ethan Bernard also took 45 faceoffs. Brock Desmarais is the only returner with any RU experience, going 7-of-20 in two years. Rutgers brings in two newcomers at the faceoff spot. Jake Rainero was a Division III All-American, going 306-of-408 (75.0%) last year at Drew. He is joined by freshman RJ Radonis from Armonk, N.Y.
Beyond Juengerkes and Splaine at the short-stick and long-stick positions, Rutgers has a number of experienced returners.
SSDMs TJ Conley, Andrew Machecha and Charlie Eischens all played extensively last season, while Kyle Worsnup returns after a strong freshman campaign as the number two LSM.
Another new addition to the program this season is a familiar face, as Scott Bieda joins the coaching staff as the team’s new offensive coordinator. Bieda, who played for the program during the transition from the BIG EAST to Big Ten and was the 2016 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year as a RU attackman, came back to RU following nine seasons coaching at Michigan and Lafayette.
“Coach Bieda has added so much value to our program and to our offense as a whole,” senior midfielder Justin Lawler said. “He’s brought a bunch of different keys to our offense like pace, discipline and communication that we pride ourselves on and it’s elevated ourselves as a unit so much.”
After facing 11 ranked teams last season, the upcoming campaign will present more challenges. Based on the preseason Media Poll, RU will face ranked foes in No. 12 Army, No. 2 Princeton, No. 10 Ohio State, No. 15 Johns Hopkins, No. 20 Michigan, No. 1 Maryland and No.7 Penn State.
Rutgers also has the opportunity to host the Big Ten Championship for the second time in program history. SHI Stadium will be the host site for the Big Ten Semifinals on April 30 and title game on May 2. The prior weekend, participants will be determined with the Quarterfinals, with the 3-6 and 4-5 games that weekend (No. 1 and No. 2 seeds earn byes).
A young team last season, the Scarlet Knights bring back the core group hungry for more success. The Scarlet Knights feature talent across both returners and newcomers, and that group has meshed well across the fall and into strong spring scrimmage performances versus UMass and BU.
Head Coach Brian Brecht enters his 13th season as the Rutgers head coach, and his 20th season coaching Division I lacrosse. He brings in a 172-144 overall record, with 106 wins at Rutgers, looking to add to that ledger in the upcoming campaign.
“We have a lot of returners from last year and then the transfers coming in have just added to our culture. We knew exactly what we needed to do prepare for this year and we’re coming in firing on all cylinders.”Justin Lawler
