The Rutgers men’s lacrosse team battled rival No. 10 Penn State and fell 15-9 on Senior Night at SHI Stadium. The game marked the regular season finale for the Scarlet Knights (7-6, 1-4) and the Nittany Lions ahead of the Big Ten Tournament beginning next Saturday.
Penn State began the scoring after Cardin Stoller made a crucial mistake coming about 15 yards out of the net with the ball and turning it over to the Nittany Lions for an easy score. Rutgers quickly answered with a Dante Kulas strike.
From there, the quarter was back and forth, with each team trading goal after goal until the final minutes, when Penn State opened things up. The Knights led 4-3 following goals from Shane Knobloch, Ross Scott and a second score from Kulas. But with 1:43 left, the Nittany Lions knotted things up and then scored 2 more in the last 30 seconds to take a 6-4 lead.
All things considered, Rutgers's 2-goal deficit was not a bad spot to be in, but with the way the Knights were playing up until the final minute, going down 2 goals in the snap of a finger was not ideal.
The second quarter saw much less action than the first with just 3 combined goals. Rutgers quickly trimmed its deficit to 1 goal with a tough score from Knobloch about four minutes into the quarter. Penn State responded five minutes later, taking a 7-5 lead before tacking on another score and heading into the locker rooms up 8-5.
The Knights would need to do better offensively to come back in the second half, but they did not quite do so in the third quarter as they once again scored just a single goal in the 15 minutes. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions tacked on another 3 goals.
Entering the final quarter, Rutgers led 29-28 in shots and 17-16 in shots on goal, but still trailed 11-6. In the saves department, Penn State led 11-5 as Stoller was struggling for the Knights while Jack Fracyon looked elite as always.
The Nittany Lions kicked off the fourth with 2 goals, snagging their largest lead of the day at 13-6. But Rutgers did not roll over quite yet as the Knights scored twice to cut their deficit back to 5 goals.
That would be Rutgers’ last breath, though, as Penn State scored twice more and closed out a 15-9 victory.
Kulas led the way for the Knights with 4 goals. Matt Traynor and TJ Malone fueled the Nittany Lions with 4 goals apiece while an excellent performance from Fracyon kept Rutgers at bay.
Jack Aimone did not play after sustaining an injury in practice.
With the loss, the Knights await the result of Michigan versus Ohio State before they know their conference tournament seeding. Rutgers holds a tiebreaker over the Wolverines but not over the Buckeyes, meaning that depending on who wins between Michigan and Ohio State, the Knights can either be the fifth seed or the sixth seed.
Regardless, Rutgers will have to travel for its quarterfinal matchup, making the loss to Penn State the final home game of 2024, and the last ever for many seniors who took the program to new heights in their careers.
"I appreciate the seniors tonight and everything they've given to Rutgers lacrosse throughout their careers," said head coach Brian Brecht. "It's always tough to finish your last home game on the other side of things."
Just two years removed from a Final Four appearance, the Knights have now gone a combined 2-8 in regular-season conference play since then.
"We had our opportunities tonight just like we've had all year but it's razor thin," Brecht said. "Sometimes you've got to be a little sharper and not give them opportunities to exploit some things. I thought we weren't as sharp as we needed to be; energy was great, effort was great."
While Rutgers has shown flashes of being able to compete against the Big Ten's top teams, the Knights have failed to string together full games at the level of play they need to.
With the conference tournament on the horizon, Rutgers will need a good 60 minutes in the quarterfinals and then some to keep its season alive.
"You've got to do things well all the time not just for 40 or 45 minutes," Brecht said. "I'm hoping that we get some guys back ... we'll find out who we play and have a week to prepare for it."
