Rutgers men's lacrosse drops 2nd straight Big Ten game
The Rutgers men's lacrosse team picked up its second consecutive loss on Saturday, losing by a score of 16-12 to Johns Hopkins. The game marked the third consecutive away game for the Scarlet Knights (7-3, 0-2), and it was also their second matchup in Big Ten play.
The team now remains winless in the conference, whereas the Blue Jays (9-3, 2-0) have now won five in a row and remain undefeated in Big Ten play.
Things got off to a quick start when senior attacker Ross Scott scored a goal for No. 9 Rutgers just 15 seconds into the game. No. 7 Johns Hopkins responded quickly with a goal of its own 45 seconds later. A minute into the game, things were knotted up at 1-1.
Senior midfielder David Sprock scored at the 13:30 mark in the first period and the Knights held a 2-1 lead. This lead, though, wound up being Rutgers' last lead of the first half as the Blue Jays scored 6 of the next 7 goals and subsequently took a 7-3 lead. The Knights were able to rally for 2 late goals in the 12-goal first period to cut their deficit to 7-5 heading into the second period.
With senior goalkeeper Kyle Mullin surrendering 7 goals in the first period and notching zero saves, Rutgers turned to senior goalkeeper Anthony Palma for the rest of the game.
In the second period, the Knights outscored Johns Hopkins 3-1 to tie the score at 8-8 going into halftime. Junior midfielder Shane Knobloch scored 2 goals in the period and earned a first-half hat trick. The Blue Jays only attempted two shots on goal in the second period, and Palma successfully saved one.
At the half, Rutgers led by a sizable margin in shots on goal, having a 16-9 advantage in the category. The Knights struggled in between the pipes, as they had just one save as opposed to Johns Hopkins' eight.
Rutgers got off to a hot start in the second half, with back-to-back goals being scored by senior midfielder Justin Kim. The Knights then took their first lead since early in the first period.
The Blue Jays scored the next 3 goals of the contest before Rutgers evened things up at 11-11. From there, Johns Hopkins pulled away with a 5-1 run to end the game.
The Knights finished the game with a 48-38 advantage in shots and a 26-25 advantage in shots on goal. They also led 37-25 in ground balls and 17-14 in faceoffs. Ultimately, it came down to the goalkeeping as Rutgers lost in the saves category 14-9.
For the Knights, Kim and Knobloch led the way on offense scoring 3 goals apiece. Senior midfielder Noah Daniels also pitched in with 2 goals. Coming in off the bench, Palma recorded nine saves while allowing 9 goals in three periods of play for Rutgers.
The scoring for the Blue Jays was distributed very evenly as 11 different players scored at least 1 goal in the game, with five of their players recording multi-goal performances. Goalkeeper Tim Marcille recorded 14 saves on the day for Johns Hopkins.
The Knights will now return home to face off against Michigan, and they will look to pick up their first win of the season in Big Ten play. The game will be played on Friday at 6 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ESPNU.
For more updates on the Rutgers men's lacrosse game, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
