Rutgers men's lacrosse looks to stay undefeated against No. 19 Loyola Maryland
The Rutgers men’s lacrosse team will head to Baltimore on tomorrow to take on Loyola Maryland in its second ranked matchup of the season. A win would make them the only 5-0 team in the country and give them their first win over the No. 19 Greyhounds (0-2, 0-0) since 2007.
The No. 5 Scarlet Knights (4-0, 0-0) have their highest national ranking of the year after beating No. 10 Army last weekend — making Rutgers the second-highest Big Ten team in the rankings behind No. 1 Maryland.
For the Knights, a new-look attacking front has helped Rutgers average 16 goals per game (GPG) thus far. Several transfer seniors have contributed to the scoring, with senior attacker Ronan Jacoby tied for the team lead with 11 goals with junior attacker Ross Scott. Senior attacker Mitch Bartolo, who transferred from Penn State, is right behind them with 10 goals.
“I think things are becoming very smooth on the offensive end, as far as the bouncing, the field spacing, the timing of things,” said head coach Brian Brecht. “So, that definitely has developed in the last couple of weeks.”
The defense, led in the back by senior goalkeeper Colin Kirst, has also stepped up, allowing just 8 GPG through the first month of the season. Kirst has allowed just 7.73 GPG, saving 64.2 percent of the shots he’s faced this year.
Another area of improvement over last season’s performance has come at the faceoff spot. The bulk of the draws have been taken by junior faceoff specialist Jonathan Dugenio, who started last season. Dugenio has won 66.3 percent of his draws through four games. This is a significant jump over 2021, where he won just 39.6 percent of his faceoffs as the Knights' primary taker.
“(Dugenio) is really more of an athlete and a lacrosse player than a faceoff guy,” Brecht said. “I think the time that he spent with assistant coach Peter Dolan has allowed us as a program and (Dugenio) in particular to grow his game.”
Loyola comes into tomorrow's game after dropping back-to-back games to then-No. 15 Johns Hopkins and the then-No. 2 Terrapins (3-0, 0-0) to start the season.
The Greyhounds started the season ranked No. 9, but the losses have dropped them 10 spots ahead of tomorrow's game. Loyola is led by Ryan McNulty and Kevin Lindley. Lindley had 42 goals in 2021, while McNulty was a Second Team All-American long-stick midfielder.
The game will start at noon and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
“(Loyola is) very similar to us,” Brecht said. “Certainly we’re going to have our hands full — they’re a very experienced team, very slick, very mature and obviously well-coached.”
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