No. 8/9 Rutgers men’s lacrosse improved to 5-1 on the season with a 18-14 victory over Utah at SHI Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t easy as RU trailed 3-1 in the first period and were locked in a 5-5 tie midway through the second period. However, a dominant third period in which they outscored the visitors 6-0 proved to be the difference in the outcome.
After leading 7-6 at the break, Rutgers dominated with a 7-0 run to lead 14-6 early in the fourth quarter. Utah never quit and outscored RU 8-5 in the final period, but never got closer than the final four goal deficit.
Although Utah outshot Rutgers 49-45, the Scarlet Knights held a 33-27 advantage with shots on goal. They forced the Utes into a season high 21 turnovers and won 19 of 36 face-off attempts.
For the second straight game, Rutgers had nine different players score a goal. They were led by Brian Cameron and Dante Kulas as each had four goals. Ross Scott had three goals and three assists. The three players have led the offensive attack for RU all season. Scott leads the team with 19 goals and 26 points while tied for second with 7 assists along with Cameron, who is also second with 17 goals and 24 points. Kulas is third with 16 goals and 21 points.
Eric Civetti scored two goals for the first time in his career while both Shane Knobloch and Joe Neuman added a goal along with an assist. Knobloch leads the team with 8 assists this season.
All-American Ethan Rall had five ground balls and three caused turnovers. He is now within a bakers dozen of the all-time program record of 84 held by Nick Contino (2011-2014). Jonathan Dugenio had eight ground balls and won 15 of 28 face-off attempts. Neuman was 4 of 8 and earned both of his points off of face-offs in the win. Goalkeeper Kyle Mullin made 13 saves in the victory.
Rutgers will finish its four game homestand with a top ten rivalry game. They host No. 6/5 Princeton on Saturday, March 11 at 1 p.m. ET. The Tigers (2-2) have won three of the last four meetings but both programs are coming off Final Four campaigns a year ago. It should be another battle next weekend and a chance for RU to earn its second win over a top ten ranked foe this season.
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pj43
March 6, 2023 at 7:44 pm
Good start to the season thus far and the upcoming weekend game against Princeton appears to be the highlight Rutgers sports event of the weekend. A win on Saturday would be big for the team’s LAX ranking.
Biochemist01
March 8, 2023 at 12:51 am
This was a very sloppy game by Rutgers, particularly in the 1st quarter. Clears were bad, ground balls weee bad, and FOs were bad. They got better in the 2nd quarter and then came out on fire in the 3rd quarter. 4th quarter they gave up too many goals. All that said, Utah has quite bit of talent and plays hard and fast. They caught Rutgers sleeping.
Rutgers has to clean all this up or it will be a long afternoon against Princeton.