No. 16/17 Men’s Lacrosse Hosts No. 7 Ohio State Saturday in Big Ten Opener

Saturday, March 21

Piscataway, N.J.

1:00 PM

Rutgers University

Ohio State

Tickets From $20

Photo by: Dakota Moyer

No. 16/17 Men’s Lacrosse Hosts No. 7 Ohio State Saturday in Big Ten Opener

Mar 19 | Men's Lacrosse

Rutgers Game Notes Live Stream Live Stats

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 16/17 Rutgers men's lacrosse starts Big Ten play this weekend, with the squad welcoming in No. 7 Ohio State for the first league game of the season, a 1 p.m. faceoff at SHI Stadium. There will be a live stream, with Ralph Bednarczyk and Rick Mercurio on the call. Rutgers' Student Radio station, WRSU 88.7FM, will have a radio broadcast of the game.

The game will be Military Appreciation Day as veterans and military members will get free admission. There will be a giveaway of Rutgers' lacrosse camo hats and schedule posters while supplies last. Rutgers will honor military members throughout the game and have a color guard present the flag during the nation anthem.

About Rutgers

Rutgers comes into the game with a 7-2 overall record through non-conference play. Both of the team's losses came to ranked foes (No. 3 Princeton and No. 12 Army). The Scarlet Knights downed Jacksonville, Stony Brook, Villanova, LIU, Hofstra, St. John's and Bellarmine in non-league play. Rutgers is unbeaten inside SHI Stadium this season (4-0).

Rutgers is looking for an 8-2 start to the season with a win. That would represent the team's best record through 10 games since starting the 2022 campaign 9-1, as well as tying for their most wins in a season since 2023.

Colin Kurdyla had a tremendous week offensively as RU defeating St. John's (19-4) and Bellarmine (21-8) last week. Kurdyla had four goals and seven assists versus the Red Storm and four goals, five assists against Bellarmine. He was named the national Player of the Week, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and to the USILA Team of the Week. He became the first RU player with 11 points in a game since 1993, first player in program history to have 9+ points in a game twice in the same season and has a new career-high in assists (22) and points (45) this season. Kurdyla leads the Big Ten in assists per game (2.44) and points per game (5.00). Kurdyla is five points shy of 50 on the season. With his next point, he would have the most points for a Scarlet Knight in a year since the 2022 season.

Sophomore faceoff specialist John Scarellli also stood out in RU's two victories. He went 12-of-17 on faceoffs against St. Johns and 14-of-18 against Bellarmine to win nearly 75% across two games. He also scooped nine ground balls against Bellarmine, his career-high. Scarelli joined Kurdyla on the USILA Team of the Week.

Haydn Sommer had five goals against St. John's. He has eight points over the last three games since moving to a starting spot on attack.

Colin Kelly can reach 100 career goals with one more goal. The midfielder has 99 goals entering the game through 53 career contests, including 70 in two seasons at Canisius.

Rutgers leads the Big Ten in saves/game (11.11). The team is also top-20 nationally in caused turnovers (14^th, 9.56 per game), scoring margin (15^th, +3.44), man-down defense (16^th, 76.5%), scoring defense (18^th, 9.33) and clearing percentage (18^th, 88.2%).

Rutgers has used six different starting lineups in nine games this season. The starting close defense and goalkeeper have been the same each game, with five different players starting on attack and six different players starting on the first midfield.

About Ohio State

Ohio State enters the game with a 7-1 record on the season. Their lone loss was by one goal to No. 1 Notre Dame by one-goal, and OSU holds notable wins over No. 11 Georgetown and No. 12 Denver.

The Buckeyes have the nation's top scoring defense, allowing just 6.5 goals per game. OSU has not surrendered more than nine goals in a game yet this season and have held their foes to seven or fewer goals in five of the eight games.

Goalkeeper Cale Fyock, a First Team All-American last season, holds a 59.9% save percentage that leads the Big Ten. Defenseman Cullen Brown, an Honorable Mention All-American last season, joins Fyock on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List and leads the team with 12 caused turnovers. The third Watch List member on the squad, defenseman Bobby Van Buren, is out for the season due to an injury in the preseason.

Garrett Haas (18 goals, 15 assists) and Alex Marinier (18 goals) lead the OSU offense. Faceoffs have been split by Jack Oldman (62.1% on 54-of-87) and reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week Matt Mayfield (60.2% on 50-of-83).

About the Series

This will be the 21^st time that these two schools meet, with RU holding a 14-6 advantage all-time. The series dates back to 1953, with that initial meeting followed up by then seven games between 1992 and 1999, then the two schools playing annually in conference play since 2015.

Rutgers won 14 of the first 16 games, with OSU currently on a four-game winning streak, as the Scarlet Knights look for their first win over the Buckeyes since 2022. RU was 7-2 in the first nine meetings between the two foes as conference opponents. All seven of those wins came against Buckeyes teams that were nationally ranked, including six wins over a top-10 OSU team and four wins against OSU teams ranked No. 6 or better. Rutgers' last win over Ohio State came in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament, with RU earning a 12-10 victory over OSU in the Big Ten semifinals in College Park, Md.

Up Next

Rutgers remains home next weekend for their second Big Ten game of the season, and it will be their first nationally televised contest. RU hosts No. 12 Johns Hopkins on Sunday, a noon start on Big Ten Network.