No. 14 Rutgers men's lacrosse team earns upset victory against No. 6 Loyola Maryland
The Rutgers men’s lacrosse team picked up its third win of the season on Saturday in a 10-6 victory over Loyola Maryland. The Scarlet Knights (3-1, 0-0) got off to a quick start against the Greyhounds (2-1, 0-0) and never looked back.
After falling to Army in a narrow defeat last game, No. 14 Rutgers needed to perform well, and that is exactly what exactly happened in the matchup against No. 6 Loyola.
The game started with the Greyhounds winning the faceoff and going on the attack right away. The attack fizzled out when senior goalkeeper Kyle Mullin made a save, and the Knights headed right back down the field with an attack of their own.
The period began with a defensive battle, which ended when Rutgers finally began the scoring with a goal from sophomore attacker Dante Kulas. Less than 2 minutes later, Kulas fired a strike for his 2nd goal. The Knights went up 2-0 with less than 7 minutes to go in the first period.
The early onslaught continued when junior midfielder Shane Knobloch netted his 3rd goal of this season to put Rutgers up 3-0. Loyola would quickly respond with a much-needed goal to finally get on the scoreboard.
After an unnecessary roughness penalty put senior defender Brad Apgar in the penalty box, the Greyhounds capitalized and scored once again. This would be the final goal of the period and put the Knights in the lead by just one point with a score of 3-2.
The second period was off to a slow start until Adam Poitras fired in a goal for Loyola. With 8:13 to go in the first half, the game was now tied.
Things went cold for both teams yet again until Rutgers scored again with approximately 2 minutes left in the half.
The Greyhounds responded and knotted things up 4-4 heading into halftime. Statistics were well-matched at this point, with Loyola leading in shots 21-19 and shots on goal 13-12, while the Knights led 9-8 in saves.
The second half began with a bang as Rutgers won the faceoff and quickly went on the attack, scoring a goal in just 7 seconds as Kulas secured a hat trick with his 3rd goal of the day. Senior attacker Ross Scott then scored his 1st goal of the game approximately 1 minute later for the Knights.
The scoring didn’t stop there as Knobloch went on to score his 3rd goal of the contest, and senior attacker Brian Cameron followed up with a goal of his own. Junior midfielder Jack Aimone then added to the tally with a goal from a Knobloch assist.
Rutgers now held a 9-4 lead, and it was starting to look certain that the Knights would pull off the upset victory. The team ultimately closed out the game, winning 10-6.
Rutgers needed a strong performance from Knobloch today as he had started this season relatively slow. He stepped up to the task and finished the game with 7 points from 3 goals and four assists.
Kulas scored 3 goals, while Cameron and Scott chipped in with 3 combined goals as well: Cameron scored 2 goals, and Scott scored 1 goal.
Mullin was strong in goal for the Knights and finished with 16 saves and a .727 save percentage.
Rutgers returns to action on Tuesday in a home game versus St. John's. The game is at 3 p.m. and will be broadcasted on Big Ten Network+.
For more updates on the Rutgers men's lacrosse game, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
