(At Large) Rutgers (8-3) vs. No. 8 Seed Lehigh (10-1) 2021 SCHEDULE Saturday, May 15, 2:30 p.m., Klockner Stadium - Charlottesville, Va. No. 9 Rutgers men’s lacrosse is heading to the NCAA Tournament this Saturday. Date Opponent Site Time/Result The Scarlet Knights head to Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia, where they 2/20 No. 6 Penn State Piscataway, N.J. W, 11-9 will face the No. 8 seed Lehigh. The games hosted by UVA open up the weekend of NCAA lacrosse action, with Rutgers being the second game of the entire NCAA 2/27 at No. 6 Ohio State Columbus, Ohio W, 22-12 Tournament with a 2:30 p.m. start on Saturday. The contest will be nationally televised on ESPNU, with Chris Cotter and Paul Carcaterra on the call. WRSU will 3/6 Michigan Piscataway, N.J. W, 22-12 also provide a radio broadcast of the contest. 3/13 at No. 3 Maryland College Park, Md. L, 19-12 The Scarlet Knights will play their first game of the season on a grass surface, as 3/20 at No. 14 Johns Hopkins Baltimore, Md. W, 15-9 opposed to playing on turf. In preparation, Rutgers practiced this week in Yurcak Field, where Rutgers’ soccer team plays their home games. 3/28 No. 3 Maryland Piscataway, N.J. L, 13-9 4/3 No. 14 Ohio State Piscataway, N.J. W, 10-9 ABOUT RUTGERS Rutgers excelled while playing in the historically elite Big Ten Conference. The 4/10 at No. 19 Penn State University Park, Pa. W, 22-10 Scarlet Knights won eight games against conference competition, posting a 4/17 RV Johns Hopkins Piscataway, N.J. W, 17-11 program-best .800 winning percentage. RU claimed home-and-home sweeps during the regular season over Penn State, Ohio State, Johns Hopkins and Michigan. During 4/25 Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. W, 13-12 the season, Rutgers claimed wins over four teams that were ranked during their matchup – No. 6 Penn State, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 14 Johns Hopkins and No. 14 Big Ten Tournament (hosted by Penn State) Ohio State. 5/6 No. 6 seedJohns Hopkins University Park, Pa. L, 12-10 Rutgers set program records in the release of the All-Big Ten awards with six all- NCAA Tournament (First Round - hosted by University of Virginia) conference selections. The team had three major award winners as Colin Kirst was named Big Ten Specialist of the Year, Shane Knobloch was named Big Ten Freshman 5/15 No. 8 seed Lehigh Charlottesville, Va. 2:30 / ESPNU of the Year and Brian Brecht was named Coach of the Year. Rutgers was represented Athletic Communications Contact: on the First Team by Colin and Connor Kirst alongside Adam Charalambides, while Jaryd Jean-Felix, Kieran Mullins and Ethan Rall were on the second team. Short-stick Jordan Ozer defensive midfielder Brennan Kamish was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team. Email: [email protected] | Phone: 973-202-9728 The Scarlet Knights feature an elite attack line with Charalambides (team-best 37 RECORD CHASING goals and 53 points) and Connor Kirst (32 goals and 47 points) flanking Kieran Mullins Adam Charalambides enters the game with 142 goals. He (25 goals, 20 assists). The scoring has also been supplemented from the midfield by needs two goals to tie Greg Rinaldi for second place all- Shane Knobloch (15 goals) and David Sprock (14 goals) along with Ryan Gallagher time in Rutgers history. and Ross Scott with seven goals apiece. Charalambides currently has 193 points, tied with Scott Bieda for eighth place all-time at RU. He can tie Steve On the defensive end, Colin Kirst has shined between the pipes with a 11.27 goals- Luciano and Ryan O’Shea for sixth place all-time with three against-average and leading the Big Ten with a .549 save percentage and 13.27 save more points. per game. The close defense trio of Jaryd-Jean Felix, Garrett Bullett and Bobby Russo have combined for 26 caused turnovers. Long-stick midfielder Ethan Rall Kieran Mullins enters the game with 124 goals, tied for shares the team-lead with Jean-Felix with 11 caused turnovers. The Scarlet Knights seventh all-time. He can tie Ryan O’Shea for sixth all-time rotate a stable of short-stick defensive midfielders that have also contributed at RU with four goals. offensively with Kamish, Zackary Franckowiak, Cole Daninger and Tommy Coyne. Mullins currently has 100 assists in his career. He needs one more to tie for seventh and three more assists to tie for As a team, RU stands in the top-10 in the nation in turnovers (second, 12.27 sixth most all-time at RU. He is currently second all-time in per game), man-up offense (third, 50%), scoring offense (fifth, 14.82), clearing points in Rutgers history. percentage (eighth, .888), shot percentage (ninth, .329) and assists (8.45). NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY NEW HELMET Rutgers is making its 10th appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Scarlet The Scarlet Knights will debut a new helmet for the NCAA Knights previously reached the NCAA Tournament in 1972, 1974, 1975, 1984, Tournament, specially made for Rutgers in the postseason. 1986, 1990, 1991, 2003 and 2004. The NCAA playoff system for men’s lacrosse was The team will wear red Cascade XRS helmets in the implemented in 1971. RU last won an NCAA Tournament game in 1990 and are 2-9 contest. all-time in the event, with the first NCAA Tournament victory coming in 1986. RANKED WINS ABOUT LEHIGH The Scarlet Knights have made a statement against top Ranked 10th nationally, Lehigh went 10-1 in the regular season and claimed the teams this season, winning four games against ranked Patriot League championship. However, the Mountain Hawks had seven of their teams. The Scarlet Knights defeated No. 6 Penn State 10 wins against teams that finished four games under .500 or worse, in addition to and No. 14 Ohio State at home, and won at No. 6 Ohio ranked wins over No. 10 Loyola, No. 7 Army and No. 19 Navy. State and No. 14 Johns Hopkins. It marks the teams: Tommy Schelling leads the team with 48 points (24 goals and 24 assists), while - First time with two ranked true road wins in one Christian Mule leads the team with 31 goals. Second on the team with 25 goals is season since 2003 Cole Kirst, the brother of Rutgers’ Connor and Colin Kirst. In goal, James Spence has - First time with 2 top-10 wins in one season since 2016 a 9.62 goals-against-average and .556 save percentage. Mike Sisselberger has won - First time for Rutgers with back-to-back ranked wins 210 of 264 faceoffs this season, leading the NCAA at 79.5 percent. Lehigh also leads since 2018 the nation in ground balls per game, and is fourth in scoring offense (14.91) and 13th - Fourth time since 2016 with 4 ranked wins in 1 season. in scoring defense (10.0). QUOTABLE ABOUT THE SERIES The series dates back to 1887, as the Rutgers-Lehigh game on May 18, 1887 was the “I’m proud of our student-athletes for the sacrifices and first ever game that Rutgers lacrosse played. The Scarlet Knights are 39-8-1 all-time commitment they’ve made to allow this to come to fruition. against the Mountain Hawks and have won 13 of the past 14 meetings. After Lehigh They’ve earned a great opportunity and I’m very proud of went 0-5-1 in the first six meetings, RU claimed its first ever win over Lehigh in 1927, them.” and has gone 39-3 in the last 42 meetings. The teams have played twice since 1990, - Head Coach Brian Brecht an 8-7 win for RU in 2018 at Lehigh and a 13-10 Lehigh win in 2019 in Piscataway. Rutgers’ Ryan Gallagher had goals in the 2019 meeting, while Kieran Mullins had two “We’ll prepare the same, it’s just a different challenge. It’s goals and three assists in both meetings. been nice to have them on our schedule a handful of times. Those were always tough games. The last two times we WITH A VICTORY played them it was a really physical game. We’re eager to face them.” A win on Saturday for the Scarlet Knights would represent: - Rutgers’ first NCAA Tournament win since 1990. - Senior Captain Ryan Gallagher - The team’s 3rd win this season over a team ranked in the top-10 of national polls. - The team’s 5th win this season over a nationally ranked foe (all in the top-15). RODKIN CENTER - Rutgers’ 40th lifetime win over Lehigh. That would be the second most wins for RU At the beginning of the semester, the team moved into over any one team, trailing just the Penn State series (45 wins over PSU its new facility, the Gary and Barbara Rodkin Center for - The second seeded team RU ever defeated in the NCAA Tournament. Rutgers’ Academic Success. The state-of-the-art building features previous wins in the NCAA Tournament came against No. 6 Virginia (1990) and a brand-new locker room for the team as well as offices, unseeded CW Post (1986). film room and academic support. 2021 RUTGERS MEN’S LACROSSE RUTGERS QUICK FACTS COACHING STAFF Brian Brecht General enters his 10th season as the head coach at Rutgers. Brecht has won over 65 games as Location: .........................................................................Piscataway, N.J.