PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 19/20 Rutgers men's lacrosse took its first loss on the young season, falling at home to Stony Brook, 9-8.

Midfielder Kasey Mongillo led RU with three goals on the day. Short stick defensive midfielder Joe Juengerkes and Colin Zeller each provided two goals. Colin Kelly had one. 

On the defensive end, LSM Ryan Splaine had four caused turnovers and four ground balls. Defenseman Tommy Mendyke scooped seven ground balls. 

Stony Brook had a 42-31 advantage in shots overall, with each team placing 21 shots on goal. Cardin Stoller made 12 saves for RU. Turnovers were also fairly even, with RU committing just one more (17-16). Stony Brook had a 33-26 margin in ground balls and 12-9 in faceoffs. RU was 21-of-22 on clears and just 0-of-1 on the extra-man.

"The effort was great, defensively we played hard and pushed the tempo in the middle of the field… but we've got a young group," head coach Brian Brecht explained. "We'll learn from these experiences and get better. Sometimes you have to get punched in the mouth a bit to learn from mistakes and then clean things up."

The Scarlet Knights came out of the gates fast with a 4-0 lead after just over four minutes of action and maintained a 6-4 halftime lead. However, Stony Brook used a five-goal third quarter run to take the lead. After RU went ahead 7-4 in the opening minute of the second half, Stony Brook finished the quarter with the next five goals. In the fourth quarter, RU had a tally from Juengerkes with 12 minutes to play and had multiple chances and offensive looks to try and get the equalizer, but SBU's defense held strong and claimed the victory.

Postgame Notes

• Kasey Mongillo had his 10^th career hat trick after recording nine in his first two collegiate seasons at Merrimack
• Joe Juengerkes and Colin Zeller had their first career multi-goal game

Up Next

• Rutgers is back in action next weekend on the road. The Scarlet Knights travel to West Point to face No. 12/13 Army, a noon game on Saturday.