No. 9 Rutgers men’s lacrosse pulls away from Utah in 2nd half to win 18-14
On Saturday afternoon, the Rutgers men’s lacrosse team achieved an 18-14 victory over Utah at SHI Stadium on Busch campus. The Scarlet Knights (5-1, 0-0) battled the Utes (1-4, 0-0) in a back-and-forth first half, but No. 9 Rutgers pulled away after a dominant third quarter.
The Scarlet Knights have now won three straight games.
Utah scored the first 2 goals of the game, after which junior midfielder Jack Aimone got Rutgers on the board with approximately 5 minutes to go in the first quarter.
The Utes would then extend their lead to 3-1, but shortly after, senior attacker Ross Scott scored to put the Knights within one point of the other team. In the closing seconds of the first quarter, Scott scored another goal on a slam dunk in front of the net and Rutgers tied the game at 3-3.
The back-and-forth battle would continue throughout the whole second quarter. Utah went ahead again, but moments later, sophomore attacker Dante Kulas netted his 1st goal on a nice feed from senior attacker Brian Cameron to tie the game 4-4 with approximately 11 minutes to go in the half.
More than 2 minutes later, junior midfielder Shane Knobloch passed the ball to Cameron, who scored his 1st goal of the day giving the Knights a 5-4 lead.
The Utes responded with a goal of their own to even the game, but Scott scored his hat trick goal to put Rutgers back ahead. Scott then assisted on Kulas’ second goal of the game and the Knights' last goal of the half. Halftime came with Rutgers leading 7-6.
The Knights started the second-half scoring barrage when Cameron scored within the first 2 minutes of the third quarter. Senior midfielder David Sprock added to the lead, scoring his 4th goal of the season and putting Rutgers up 9-6. Junior midfielder Nick Teresky joined the scoring party and extended the lead 10-6.
The Knights outscored Utah 6-0 in the third quarter, and Rutgers took a 13-6 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Utes attempted a comeback as they went on a 3-goal run at the start of the fourth quarter, which reduced the Knights' lead to 14-9. The comeback fell short though as Rutgers countered with goals of its own.
Cameron and Kulas finished the contest with 4 goals each, and the Knights ended up winning the game by 4 goals. Scott registered 6 points with 3 goals and three assists.
In the victory, senior goalkeeper Kyle Mullin made 13 saves.
Rutgers and Utah were almost even in multiple categories, and neither team led in total shots, shots on goal, saves, turnovers, ground balls and faceoffs by more than six.
The Knights returns to SHI Stadium on Busch campus on Saturday at 1 p.m. as they will take on No. 5 Princeton for Military Appreciation Day.
For more updates on the Rutgers men's lacrosse game, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
