No. 19 Rutgers lacrosse wins 10-9 thriller over UMass on Long Island
The Rutgers men’s lacrosse team defeated UMass 10-9 on Saturday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights and the Minutemen faced off on Long Island in a neutral-site matchup.
UMass got the scoring started just over a minute into the game. Shane Knobloch responded and the two teams traded goals before Ryan Splaine fired in a rocket to give No. 19 Rutgers a 3-2 lead. The Minutemen answered with 2 straight goals to end the period, though, holding a 4-3 advantage heading into quarter two.
Colin Kelly, a Canisius College transfer, tallied his 1st goal as a Knight in the quarter.
The second quarter was quiet until about six minutes in, when Knobloch netted his second score of the day to tie things up. Ross Scott then displayed some fancy footwork in isolation against his defender before sniping a goal into the corner of the cage to regain the lead for Rutgers.
UMass kept its foot on the gas, though, and scored 3 unanswered goals to take a 7-5 lead. After a last-second save from Matt Knote off a Knobloch shot, the Minutemen took the 2-goal lead into halftime.
The Knights led 30-23 in shots but were tied 18-18 in shots on goal. Knote had 13 saves to Cardin Stoller’s 11. Rutgers led 8-5 in faceoffs but it hadn’t led to much offense to this point.
Tanyr Krummenacher began the scoring in the second half with his 9th goal of the season, trimming the UMass lead to 7-6. Colin Kurdyla assisted.
Not even 40 seconds later, the back-to-back Big Ten Freshman of the Week, Kurdyla, netted a goal of his own to tie the game up. A Nick Teresky goal followed Kurdyla’s, and thanks to the 3-0 run to start the second half, the Knights now had their first lead since the 7:10 mark in the second quarter.
The lead was short-lived, though, as Mason Bregman scored for the Minutemen to tie the game at 8-8 just over a minute after Teresky’s tally.
Rutgers then called upon Scott’s number, and he delivered his 2nd goal of the day, this time putting it right between Knote’s legs and into the back of the net.
Thanks to a 4-1 third, the Knights led 9-8 heading into the fourth quarter. Going into the final frame, it was a battle between the goalkeepers as Stoller and Knote had 15 saves apiece and were both saving more than 60% of shots fired their way.
UMass responded to the run by scoring the opening goal of the fourth, tying the game at 9-9. With 12 minutes left to play, nothing was separating the two teams.
Through 11 minutes of the final quarter, Rutgers had not recorded a single shot on goal. The Knights finally got one off from Kurdyla at the 3:25 mark, but Knote saved it, and the Minutemen cleared.
About a minute later, though, Knobloch delivered and broke the tie with his 3rd goal of the afternoon. With just two minutes to go, Rutgers now clung to a 10-9 lead.
With seven seconds remaining, UMass possessed the ball out of a timeout and fired a rocket toward Stoller in the final seconds. Stoller remained solid and notched his career-high 19th save of the day, securing the Knights' victory.
Along with the near-20 saves, Stoller recorded a 67.9 save percentage, outdueling Knote in the barn burner.
Rutgers now begins its Big Ten schedule next weekend, starting with a home game against No. 7 Johns Hopkins.