No. 16 Rutgers men's lacrosse wallops Detroit Mercy 17-5
The Rutgers men’s lacrosse team walloped Detroit Mercy 17-5 on Tuesday afternoon. The clash with the Titans marked the second of three straight home games across eight days for the Scarlet Knights (5-1).
Jack Aimone got the scoring started early for No. 16 Rutgers, firing in a goal just over a minute into the game. Tanyr Krummenacher and Colin Kurdyla followed with tallies of their own to give the Knights a 3-0 lead.
Detroit struggled to gain possession of the ball, and when it did, Cardin Stoller and the defense in front of him remained solid. That was until Eoghan Mullet possessed a messy faceoff for the Titans and dunked in a shot over Stoller from just outside of the crease.
Nick Teresky would answer for Rutgers with his 2nd goal of the season to make it 4-1. Then, in the waning moments of the shot clock, Ross Scott delivered a pass right near the crease to Shane Knobloch, and he quickly finished with the score.
The Knobloch goal capped off a 5-1 first quarter for the Knights, where they led 18-5 in shots and 9-2 in shots on goal.
Rutgers started the second quarter even quicker, with Scott scoring his 1st goal of the day just 24 seconds in. Every goal from the Knights to this point came from a different player, that was until Krummenacher netted his 2nd of the day to put Rutgers up 7-1.
Scott notched his second assist of the day and his 15th of the season on a John Sidorski score, continuing his dominance as a passer this season. Rutgers continued spreading the wealth as James Ringer followed with a goal of his own which was just the 5th of his career and 1st of the season.
It was not the last time Sidorski and Ringer would score, as the pair traded goals once again to give the Knights an 11-1 lead. Krummenacher then notched a hat trick to give Rutgers a dozen in the half.
Stoller did not have to do much in the half, as Detroit finished the half with just five shots on goal. The Knights had 19.
Coming out of halftime with such a big lead, head coach Brian Brecht elected to give playing time to some fresh faces, including Seamus Fagan, who subbed in for Stoller. Fagan would let in a goal at the 11:25 mark in the third quarter as the Titans finally stopped the Rutgers scoring run.
The Knights kept essentially all of their starters out the rest of the afternoon while giving opportunities to players who do not typically play.
David Carroll, Zach Walsh and Connor McDonough all scored the 1st goals of their Rutgers careers.
While the Knights outscored Detroit just 5-4 in the second half, it was comfortable coasting to the 17-5 win. Rutgers had 11 different goal scorers in the game.
Next up is a rivalry matchup against No. 14 Princeton.