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Rutgers Men's Lax fights back, holds on vs. Penn in NCAA Tourney quarters

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For the first time in team history, sixth-seeded Rutgers, ranked No. 8 in the country by Inside Lacrosse, is going to the Final Four.

Saturday, the Scarlet Knights upset third-seeded and No. 3 Penn, 11-9, in the quarterfinals/Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

Rutgers was 0-7 in the national quarterfinals coming into the game.

Penn entered the contest on a seven-game winning streak. Rutgers is now 29-6 all-time in a series dating back to 1925 versus the Quakers, though the two teams hadn't met since 1986.

Men's lacrosse is now the second team this academic year at Rutgers to make the NCAA semifinals joining women's soccer in the fall and is the first men's program to reach the Final Four since men's soccer in 1994.

Rutgers also beat the No. 3-ranked team in Ohio State in 2017 and UMass in 2003. The victory gives the Scarlet Knights the most wins against ranked teams in a single campaign with six. Rutgers now has 33 ranked wins since 2004 under head coach Brian Brecht (all since 2015).

Rutgers next plays the winner between seventh-seeded and No. 10 Cornell and unseeded RV Delaware on Saturday, May 28, at either noon or 2:30 p.m. at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT.

Cornell, featuring CJ Kirst, and Delaware play each other on Sunday.

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After a scoreless first 10 minutes, Ross Scott put Rutgers on the scoreboard first with a goal with 4:57 to go in the opening quarter. Scott netted eight goals in last week's first round win against Harvard.

Shane Knobloch gave Rutgers a 2-0 lead with a tick under two minutes left in the first period. Despite being 0-3 on faceoffs in the first frame, Rutgers tallied 15 shots including six on goal. The Scarlet Knights' defense held Penn to 10 shots and only four on goal which were all saved by Colin Kirst.

Penn, though, tied it up at 2-2 with goals exactly two minutes apart at the 13:48 mark and the 11:48 mark, respectively, in the second quarter.

Ronan Jacoby retook lead for the Scarlet Knights a little over a minute later, but the Quakers evened the score at 3-3 just 29 seconds after.

Penn had a goal wiped out at the 7:40 mark by a penalty, despite being a man-down, Rutgers went on the attack. Ethan Rall took a 4-3 lead for Rutgers with 7:10 to go before halftime.

After a potential missed penalty call against Penn, the Quakers tied the game at 4-4 with 54 seconds left in the first half.

Mitch Bartolo, who was at Penn for four seasons, gave Rutgers a 5-4 advantage in the third quarter with a goal. This came after two saves by Kirst on the other end.

The Scarlet Knights took a two-goal 6-4 lead moments later. Kirst made a stop off a wide-open shot. Bobby Russo collected the rebound, weaved his way around Penn players, flung the ball upfield, and Zackary Franckowiak scored.

Penn came right back to score two goals quickly however to make it 6-6 for the fourth tie of the game.

In the fourth, the Quakers finally took their first lad of the game at 7-7 at the 13:40 mark, and upped it to 8-6 with 12:03 left.

Knobloch snapped a 4-0 run by Penn with a goal with 9:19 remaining to make it 8-7. This came after a Penn possession that kept continuing that prompted a Rutgers timeout after a clear.

Bartolo tied it up at 8-8 just 24 seconds later with a goal from Scott. Bartolo assisted Knobloch's goal beforehand. Dante Kulas then put the Scarlet Knights back up, 9-8, with 5:38 to go.

Penn had a couple chances it would like to have back.

Knobloch increased Rutgers' advantage to 10-8 with his third goal of the day at the 3:39 left, and Rutgers would hang on.

Bryant Boswell iced the game with a goal with 1:04 to go to put Rutgers up by three.

Kirst made 18 saves on the day.

This was the second year in a row that Rutgers played its NCAA Quarterfinals game at Hofstra. Rutgers nearly defeated top-seeded North Carolina last season before falling in overtime, 12-11. Earlier this season, the Scarlet Nights traveled to Hofstra and won, 22-10.

RUTGERS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

1972: No. 8 Rutgers lost at No. 1 Maryland in the Quarterfinals, 9-3 (8-Team Field)

1974: No. 8 Rutgers lost at No. 1 Maryland in the Quarterfinals, 12-6 (8-Team Field)

1975: No. 8 Rutgers lost at No. 1 Cornell in the Quarterfinals, 18-5 (8-Team Field)

1984: No. 7 Rutgers lost at No. 2 Syracuse in the Quarterfinals, 8-7 (OT) (8-Team Field)

1986: No. 7 Rutgers WINS, hosting C.W. Post in the First Round, 13-8 (10-Team Field)

No. 7 Rutgers lost at No. 2 Syracuse in the Quarterfinals, 17-5

1990: unseeded Rutgers WINS at No. 6 Virginia, 7-6 in the First Round (12-Team Field)

Rutgers lost at No. 3 Loyola, 19-10 in the Quarterfinals

1991: unseeded Rutgers lost at No. 7 Maryland, 13-7 in the First Round (12-Team Field)

2003: No. 7 Rutgers lost, hosting Georgetown, 9-6 in the First Round (16-Team Field)

2004: unseeded Rutgers lost at No. 6 Princeton, 12-4 in the First Round (16-Team Field)

2021: unseeded Rutgers WINS vs. No. 8 Lehigh, 12-5 in the First Round (18-Team Field)

Rutgers lost vs. No. 1 UNC in the Quarterfinals, 12-11 in the Quarterfinals (OT)

2022: No. 6 seed Rutgers WINS hosting Harvard, 19-9 in the First Round (18-Team Field)

No. 6 seed Rutgers WINS vs. No. 3 Penn, 11-9, in the Quarterfinals

BOX SCORE

Rutg | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 || 11

Penn | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 || 9

Follow Chris Nalwasky on Twitter @ChrisNalwasky.

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