No. 16 Rutgers men's lacrosse fends off Hofstra for rainy home win
The Rutgers men's lacrosse team defeated Hofstra 13-8 on a rainy Saturday afternoon at SHI Stadium on Busch campus. The Scarlet Knights (4-1, 0-0) battled the elements to earn their second-straight win.
Here are two takeaways from the home win.
First half dominance
Like many games this season, No. 16 Rutgers was able to get out to an early lead. After approximately 5 minutes of play, junior attacker Dante Kulas and graduate student midfielder John Sidorski both found the back of the net to give the Knights a 2-0 advantage.
Both teams would trade goals, but the Pride (3-3, 0-0) would net the final goal of the first quarter from Justin Sykes. After the opening 15 minutes of action, Rutgers had a slim 4-3 lead.
The second quarter was where the Knights took full control of the game. Rutgers went on a 5-0 scoring run that saw goals from many different players. Senior midfielder Shane Knobloch, freshman midfielder Colin Kurdyla, graduate student attacker Ross Scott and senior midfielder Jack Aimone all etched their names on the score sheet. Graduate student midfielder Brandon Hund also scored his first goal as a Knight.
Hofstra ended the offensive onslaught with a tally from Rory Jones, but Rutgers responded right away with a man-down goal from Kurdyla. The goal from Jones ended a Pride scoring drought that lasted more than 15 minutes. The Knights scored a season-high 10 goals in the first half to lead 10-4 at halftime.
Defense continues to impress
After an impressive defensive performance against Loyola Maryland last weekend, Rutgers' backline had another tough task on Saturday. To the Knights' advantage, their defense got the job done, yet again, as they held Hofstra to only 5 goals in the second half en route to the victory. Rutgers was also able to hold its opponent to 33 shots, a season-low.
"Defensively, it's still a work in progress," said head coach Brian Brecht. "I think we're starting to gel, and the guys are starting to step up and understand their roles and responsibilities."
Coming off his Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, redshirt freshman goalkeeper Cardin Stoller recorded 11 saves.
"I thought (Stoller) did a great job for us today, made some great saves and really saw the ball well," Brecht said.
Scott had a team-leading 5 points off 2 goals and three assists. Three other players netted 2 goals, and Kurdyla had his second hat trick of the season.
"(Kurdyla's) doing a great job for us," Brecht said. "He's on the first midfield for a reason. He's very talented — he's growing and understanding."
The Knights will look to make it three straight wins when they face off against Detroit Mercy on Tuesday at SHI Stadium. The contest will begin at 3 p.m. and will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.
"We gotta take care of ourselves — we gotta play Rutgers lacrosse for 60 minutes," Brecht said on keeping the momentum rolling. "We're gonna need more guys stepping in to take a few minutes on both ends of the field, so we don't have to lean in on the lead guys all the time in these midweek games."
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