No. 16/17 Rutgers men’s Lacrosse is set to open conference play against No.7 Ohio State on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights have enjoyed a good start to their season, going 7-2 in their first nine games. However, their only losses this season came against the two ranked teams they played, No.3 Princeton and No.12 Army. The match against Army was a close affair, with Rutgers falling by two; however, the match against the Tigers was different as the Knights could not slow down the Princeton attack en route
to an 11-point loss.
The Buckeyes have been a different story. They currently sit at 7-1 with wins over No.11 Georgetown and No.12 Denver. Their lone loss came against No.1 Notre Dame by one point.
Both teams have had one common opponent so far this season, Bellarmine. Rutgers defeated Bellarmine 21-8 while Ohio State beat them 11-6.
The Buckeyes are led on offense by Garrett Haas and Alex Marinier, who both have 18 goals so far this season.
Colin Kurdyla has been on a tear for the Knights in recent matches, recording four goals and seven assists in their match against St. John’s and adding four goals and five assists against Bellarmine. He also had two four-goal games at the start of the season against Jacksonville and Stony Brook. Haydn Sommer also recorded 5 goals against St. John’s. He leads Rutgers in most offense categories and has 23 goals so far this season.
Rutgers Goalkeeper Cardin Stoller has had a decent start to his season, being named the Big Ten Specialist of the week back in February. He recorded a season high 14 saves against Villanova. However he took has shown signs of struggle against ranked teams, surrendering 11 goals against Army and 20 against Princeton.
Udovich Connor has played a major role on the Knight defense this season, leading the team with 16 forced turnovers so far this year.
With conference play starting tomorrow, the Knights will be looking to record their first winning season in conference play since 2022. To do that, they must find a way to earn three wins against either the Buckeyes, No.12 Johns Hopkins, Michigan, No.11 Maryland, or No.9 Penn State. This means that Rutgers will have to earn a few upset wins this season to break the trend. They were able to pull off a stunning victory against No.2 Maryland last year, and will have to do something similar this year to record a winning Big ten record.
Rutgers vs Ohio State is slated for a 1 pm start time tomorrow, Saturday March 21st. The game will be available for streaming on Big Ten Plus.
