No. 10 Rutgers men's lax earns a big win over No. 11 Penn State

PISCATAWAY -- The Rutgers men's lacrosse team took one step closer in getting in to both the Big Ten Conference and the NCAA Tournaments as the No. 10 Scarlet Knights (9-4, 2-2) defeated No. 11 Penn State, 11-8, on Sunday night at High Point Solutions Stadium.

Rutgers avenged a loss from a year ago and took back the Friendship Cup trophy for the sixth time since it debuted in 1998. The Scarlet Knights are now 21-2 in their last 23 home games and improved to 42-22 in the all-time series against the Nittany Lions (8-5, 2-2).

The home team was led by Kieran Mullins (three goals), Jules Heningburg (two), and Christian Mazzone (three). Heningburg, a senior who was named to the National Player of the Year Watch Lists by the USILA and Tewaaraton Award committees, also had two assists and reached the 200 career point milestone.

"We just wanted to come out and play hard and play well after having disappointing loses to Johns Hopkins and Maryland," Mazzone said. "Penn State's a good team and we knew this game had big implications on seeding for the tournaments, but we just wanted to use it as a launching point into next week."

Defensively, the Scarlet Knights kept Penn State at bay for over 17 minutes between its third and fourth goals. Rutgers kept switching from man-to-man and zone defenses.

For the game, Penn State's leading point man, Nick Spillane, was held without one.

"The whole defense did a great," Rutgers head coach Brian Brecht said. "Our short sticks contributed not only the defensive side of the ball but in transition. Chad (Toliver) had a goal. They helped us clear the ball as well. ...I'm very proud of the defense."

Goalie Max Edelmann played lights out at times as he recorded 11 saves.

"I'm a big fan of Max, and he certainly was outstanding tonight," Brecht said. "Down the stretch in a one-goal game, he had some great saves and allowed us to win it in the other end."

Colby Kneese, Penn State's goalie, made nine saves and made the stop of the day from his back side in the first quarter. Seeing that helped Edelmann get his game face on.

"I started a little slow in the beginning of the game, so I really needed to bounce back. I started making a few saves and stopped them in transition," Edelmann said.

"I get excited (seeing other goalies make great plays). He's an incredible goalie and seeing save early on kind of got me fired up and made me want to compete that much harder. There's a lot of respect."

Penn State had a chance to score right at the end of a timeout in second quarter with 34 seconds left, but Rutgers kept the Nittany Lions without a shot on target. Penn State was held scoreless in the second quarter for just the second time all year.

In the third, Penn State outscored Rutgers 3-2, getting a score at the buzzer. Speaking of buzzer, after Rutgers' Connor Vercruysse scored with 11 seconds remaining in the third, the horn at HPSS was stuck for over three minutes.

Momentum was killed.

Penn State then scored four straight goals, to make it a one-goal, 9-8 game.

Rutgers' 7-3 halftime lead was gone. But that was as far as it got. Rutgers blew leads late to Princeton, Johns Hopkins, and Maryland to name a few this year, but not against the Nittany Lions.

"It's a 60-minute game," Brecht said. "I thought we did a good job in the first half to give ourselves the ability to weather a little run. They're a talented team, ...but our offense got us some timely goes near the end."

Added Mazzone: "We did a better job of staying composed. Penn State made that run but we didn't freak out or anything. We just let the game come to us. We didn't play not to lose we kept our foot on the gas pedal."

With 6:50 left, Edelmann make a clutch low stop and the Scarlet Knights then gained possession. But, Kneese made an equally impressive save with 5:15.

However, Mullins put Rutgers ahead by two at 10-8 with a goal with 3:13 left. No horn went off.

Mazzone then scored an empty net goals to make it 11-8 with 2:08 to go, which was odd considering Rutgers had the ball coming out of a timeout. Rutgers then played keep away and preserved the victory.

The Scarlet Knights came into the contest in fifth place in six-team Big Ten Conference after Ohio State upset No. 1 Maryland earlier in the day. Penn State was in third and the Buckeyes moved up to fourth.

Now, Rutgers is in a three-way tie with resurgent Ohio State and Penn State. Rutgers and Ohio State meet in Columbus in the regular season finale. A win will guarantee Rutgers or Ohio State a spot in the four-team conference tournament. A win could could quite possibly send Rutgers into the NCAA bracket as well.

Brecht and his team are treating like the playoffs are starting early.

"The playoffs start on Saturday," the coach said. "Right now we have an opportunity to really win and advance. These seniors here have been great. I'm excited that they have the opportunity to get in the playoffs and the playoffs start on Saturday.

"The Big Ten's a bear. You have to come ready to play every weekend. We're in a good spot right now."