Rutgers mens, womens teams drop close weekend contests
Over the weekend, the Rutgers men’s and women’s lacrosse teams both lost games by a single goal.
In the Saturday doubleheader at SHI Stadium, the men’s lacrosse team (2-3) lost to Stony Brook by a score of 14-13 and the women’s lacrosse team (4-2) lost to Saint Joseph’s in overtime, 13-12.
The men’s team played the first leg of the doubleheader. After a first quarter where both squads fired off 12 shots, the Scarlet Knights found themselves trailing by a score of 4-2. Two juniors, attackman Adam Charalambides and midfielder Tommy Coyne, found the back of the net. Charalambides's tally brought him to 100 career goals, a mark only 10 others from Rutgers have achieved.
Charalambides didn’t lay off the scoring and single-handedly tied the game 2:30 minutes into the second frame. His goal gave him a hat trick. Coyne and true freshman attackman Ross Scott each added a goal, giving the Knights a 6-4 lead going back to the locker room.
Rutgers’ offense then went quiet and the Seawolves (4-1) unloaded 4 goals by the time 6 minutes had passed. The lone goal breaking up the offensive attack came from Coyne, who scored his fifth career hat trick. Senior attackman Kieran Mullins scored 2 goals within 2:30 minutes of each other. Junior midfielder Brennan Kamish added a quick one before the clock expired, pushing the Knights’ lead to 2 goals.
Kamish scored another one in the beginning of the fourth quarter. Stony Brook then went on a tear, finding twine six times in 7:30 minutes. Down 14-11 with 4 minutes remaining, Rutgers was able to reorganize and Scott and Charalambides each scored. The Knights weren’t able to find another one, though, and the game ended with Rutgers on the wrong side of the score.
On Charalambides’s late goal, he became the 10th-highest scoring player in Knights’ history. Mullins moved into 10th in the points category. After his 4 points on Saturday, he now has 175 career points.
The game stayed as close as it was due to a noteworthy effort between the pipes. Junior goalkeeper Stephen Russo finished with 15 saves, his second straight game reaching that number.
After the first nail-biter ended, the next one began.
In the women's game, the Hawks (3-2) jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead to begin the contest. A goal each from senior midfielder Samantha Budd and sophomore attackwoman Marin Hartshorn ended the scoreless drought. Hartshorn lead Rutgers with 5 points, 4 goals and one assist. Hartshorn’s hat trick is her first of this year’s campaign.
After another Saint Joseph’s goal, sophomore midfielder Camryn Rogers and true freshmen midfielder Cassidy Spilis and attackwoman Jenna Byrne finished off the Knights’ scoring for the half. The first 30 minutes ended with a 7-5 lead for the visitors.
Scoring multiple goals in the game was junior attackwoman Taralyn Naslonski. She kicked off Rutgers’ second half scoring with 2 consecutive goals. Hartshorn added another to tie the game at 8 apiece. After the Hawks took the lead again, Spilis negated it with her second goal of the day.
Hartshorn finished her hat trick with 2 goals in 2 minutes. With the Knights down 1, Spilis along with several of her teammates, were in front of the net trying to make something happen. Hartshorn received a pass toward the back of the endzone from Byrne. Hartshorn came up on the left of the goal and found the open Spilis to tie the game and send it to overtime.
In the first extra period, Rutgers lost the draw but wasn’t fazed, as the determined defense let up only two shots. After a last-second attempt to win by Spilis, the game went into its second overtime period. Winning the draw again, Saint Joseph's scored on its third shot of the period.
Both Knights squads hit the road to play opponents in New Jersey for their next games. The men take on Princeton on Saturday. The Tigers (4-0) dismantled Johns Hopkins for their last win. The women travel to play at Monmouth today. The Hawks (3-2) have dropped their last two games.
For updates on the Rutgers men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
