No. 15 Rutgers men's lacrosse looks to continue winning ways against Stony Brook
The Rutgers men's lacrosse team will go on the road to face off against Stony Brook on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights (1-0, 0-0) are coming off a come-from-behind win over Lehigh in their season opener.
The Seawolves (1-0, 0-0) won their first game of the 2024 campaign 17-14 against Sacred Heart. Nick Dupuis, Dylan Pallonetti and Jack Dougherty each notched a hat trick in the victory.
To limit the attacking trio on Saturday, head coach Brian Brecht said that No. 15 Rutgers will take the same approach it does for every game.
"We gotta take care of ourselves first," he said. "Earlier in the week, it's all about Rutgers and making sure that we get better and understand our responsibilities and our roles in our systems."
Last season, the Knights defeated Stony Brook 11-7. Many players who made an impact in that game are no longer on the Banks, meaning that Rutgers will have to look to its new lineup to find the same success.
"We're a very different team than last year," Brecht said. "It starts with today's practice and having a good week of taking care of Rutgers, preparing the right way and understanding who we are, what we want to do and then obviously having some awareness of our opponent and what they do."
In the win against the Mountain Hawks (0-1, 0-0), redshirt freshman goalkeeper Cardin Stoller made his first collegiate start between the pipes. Stoller recorded 10 saves and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
"(Stoller) made some great saves — he made some great plays out of the cage and outletting the ball and starting transitions," Brecht said. "I'm very happy with his performance, and it's something that he's going to be able to grow with and learn from, having that under his belt now."
The Knights had many goal scorers last Saturday, with junior attacker Dante Kulas, graduate student attacker Ross Scott and senior midfielders Shane Knobloch and Jack Aimone all finding the back of the net more than once. Scott was named to the USILA Team of the Week for the third time in his collegiate career after his 2 goals and three assists against Lehigh.
Rutgers will also look to its new backline to keep the Seawolves at bay. Junior defenders Ben McKelvy and Tommy Mendyke and sophomore defender and long-stick midfielder Conor Udovich all made their first collegiate starts last weekend. The defensive trio will have an arduous task at hand against a Stony Brook side that scored 209 goals last season, the second-most in the Coastal Athletic Association.
The contest between the Knights and the Seawolves will begin at noon on Saturday. It will be broadcast on FloSports.
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