No. 18 Men’s Lacrosse Earns Road Win at Stony Brook

Saturday, February 14

Stony Brook, NY

12:00 PM

Rutgers University

2-1

Stony Brook University

0-2

Rutgers

Stony Brook

Photo by: Dakota Moyer

No. 18 Men’s Lacrosse Earns Road Win at Stony Brook

Feb 14 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Scarlet Knights Win 14-11

STONY BROOK, N.Y. – Rutgers hit the road for second game away from home through three contests. The 18^th ranked Scarlet Knights got back in the win column with a true road win, defeating Stony Brook, 14-11.

Rutgers had a trio of goal scorers account for 10 of the team's 14 goals. Colin Kurdyla led the way with four goals and Greyson Vorgang and Justin Lawler each had hat tricks of their own. Vorgang and Lawler each set new career-highs in goals, while Kurdyla matched his previous career-high in goals and points (six).

Rutgers won 16-of-28 faceoffs in the game. RU led in shots (40-38) and cleared 17-of-19.

Stony Brook scored its first goal two minutes into the game. The hosts capitalized on a RU player breaking his stick, and scored through a scrum in front.

Rutgers answered with a nifty finish for its first goal. Greyson Vorgang, coming off his first career two-goal game last week, went behind-the-back for the finish and evened the score. Colin Kurdyla added a RU tally shortly after, giving the Scarlet Knights their first lead of the day at 2-1. With five minutes to play in the first quarter, Stony Brook tied the game at 2-2.

Colin Zeller followed that shortly after, scoring on the run with a low lefty laser through the goalkeepers legs. Justin Lawler added to the ledger as he unleashed a shot into the top of the cage, giving the visitors a 4-2 lead after 12 minutes of action. Vorgang had his second goal of the quarter, with Deacon Adams feeding him in transition, and RU took a 5-3 lead after one quarter.

In the second quarter, RU outscored SBU, 4-1. Colin Kelly and Kasey Mongillo scored goals just thirty seconds apart early in the third, giving RU a 7-3 lead. The Scarlet Knights also closed the second quarter with a flourish, with Shane Murphy and Justin Lawler providing goals in the final two minutes of the second half. Overall, RU finished the first half on a 7-2 run to take a five-goal lead into halftime, with one of those two goals in that span coming on the 10-man ride into an empty net.

After scoring just twice over the final 16 minutes of the first half, the Seawolves offense kicked in during the third quarter. SBU outscored RU 6-3 in the third quarter.

Stony Brook came back with the first two goals after halftime. Colin Kurdyla answered the run, dunking home a goal in front off the feed from Shane Murphy. Greyson Vorgang completed his hat trick to make RU's lead 11-6. Stony Brook added three more goals to get within 11-9. Scoring was coming often in the game, with 20 combined goals for the two sides through the first 40 minutes of the game. Colin Kurdyla complete his hat trick with seven seconds left in the third, and RU took a 12-10 lead into the final frame.

Justin Lawler's third goal of the day put RU up 13-11 with six to play. Colin Kurdyla added the final insurance tally with his fourth goal of the day.

Up next, Rutgers will return to Piscataway following this game for a three-game homestand. Up next is Villanova on February 21. The Wildcats entered the national polls this week, peaking at No. 14, after an overtime road victory over Penn State in their opener. RU also hosts LIU (Feb. 24) and Hofstra (Feb. 28) in a week span.

Postgame Notes

Greyson Vorgang, who had a career-high two goals last week against Army, moved into the starting lineup for the first time and scored three times
- Vorgang, who had four goals in his first collegiate season last year, has five goals in the past two games.
Colin Kurdyla has scored at least two goals in every game this season and at least two goals in five straight games dating back to last season. It is a 12-game goal scoring streak for him overall.
Justin Lawler had his first career multi-goal game and hat trick.
Rutgers reached nine goals in the first half – only previously reaching nine goals in one half in two goals last season.