No.17 Rutgers men’s Lacrosse earned a stunning victory over No.11 Johns Hopkins in a double overtime thriller yesterday to earn their first ranked win of the season and their first win in conference play. With this win, Rutgers improves to 8-3 on the season and 1-1 in Big Ten play, matching last season’s win total with three games left to go until the Big Ten Tournament.
The Scarlet Knight offense kept the pressure on the Blue Jay defense/goaltender throughout the game, managing 28 shots on goal compared
to 17 for the Blue Jays.
Rutgers’ Joe Juengerkes and Colin Kurdyla opened the scoring for the Knights as they ended the first quarter up 2-1. Johns Hopkins offense would explode in the second quarter to the tune of four goals to one, giving the Blue Jays a 5-3 lead heading into halftime.
Both teams would add three goals in the third period, with Kurdyla earning his 2nd and third goals of the day while Kasey Mongillo would knock in their first. After the third period, the Knights’ defense would shut down the Blue Jays’ attack for the rest of the game.
In the fourth quarter, Colin Zeller would get his first goal of the game to bring the Knights within one before Mongillo would knock in his second of the game with just one second remaining on the game clock, forcing overtime.
After a scoreless first period of overtime, Haydn Sommer would toss in his first goal of the day in double overtime to cap off the comeback.
Rutgers Goalkeeper Cardin Stoller needed to have a clutch performance late in the game to give the Knights a chance to mount a comeback. The Blue Jays had a great chance to extend the lead early in the fourth quarter, but Stoller made a spectacular save to rob All-American Matt Collison and keep the team’s deficit at two. He would continue to make these types of saves throughout the rest of the game, giving the Knights’ offense the time it needed to break through and seal the win.
Kurdyla was the top scorer across both teams, nabbing the hat trick with three goals and adding an assist on Juengerkes’ goal.
Up next, Rutgers will look to make it two in a row as they head out to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan. That game will take place on Sunday, April 5th, at noon.
