PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Scarlet Knights went on the road and earned their biggest victory of the season, opening Big Ten play with an 11-8 win over No. 11 Johns Hopkins. The Scarlet Knights earned their second ranked win of the season with the win, improving to 5-5 overall and dropping the Blue Jays to 6-3.

The Scarlet Knights used a strong finish and a high quality second half to ensure the victory. After trailing 4-2 after 21 minutes and being down 6-5 at halftime, the Scarlet Knights ran off a 5-0 run from the 3^rd to 4^th quarters, and outscored the Blue Jays 6-2 after halftime.

Rutgers was led by three goals and four points from Haydn Sommer. Colin Kelly, Colin Zeller and Colin Kurdyla all had two goals apiece, while JJ Aiello and Matthew Paolatto had a goal apiece.

Cardin Stoller made 10 saves and allowed just eight goals, a 55.6% save percentage. Stoller has had double-digit saves in every game and a save percentage of 55 percent or better in nine of the 10 games this season.

Matthew Paolatto was 10-of-21 facing off. Overall, JHU had slim margins of 34-31 in shots and 27-25 in ground balls, 13-of-23 on faceoffs overall. RU forced JHU into 15 turnovers and was 21-of-23 clearing.

Rutgers scored the game's first goal, then Hopkins came back with the next three. After 21 minutes, JHU led 4-2.

From there, RU responded with a three-goal run. JJ Aiello, Haydn Sommer and Colin Kurdyla all tallied in a span of 2:20 to put RU ahead 5-4. The Blue Jays responded with the last two goals of the first half. At the break, the home team led 6-5 over Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights stormed out of the halftime locker room with a dominant third quarter. RU outscored Johns Hopkins 4-0 in the third quarter to take command for a 9-6 lead after the third.

RU got things started right away after halftime. Matthew Paolatto won the initial faceoff, passed to Colin Kurdyla, and he tallied seven seconds into the quarter. Then, Paolatto won the next faceoff, took it himself, and scored.

Colin Kelly made it three goals in four minutes by tallying, then 10 minutes later it was Kelly again, making it a 9-6 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Sommer finished his hat trick at the 11:58 mark for a 5-0 RU run. The defense held Hopkins without a goal for the first 26 minutes of the second half. There were three goals overall in the final 3:27 of the game, making the 11-8 final margin.

Postgame Notes

• It was the second ranked win for RU this season, both on the road, after downing No. 20 Lehigh in the season opener
• Since 2021, Rutgers has won four of the past seven meetings with Johns Hopkins, and earned their sixth win over the Blue Jays since becoming conference foes in 2015.
• It was their 10^th all-time win over Johns Hopkins and fourth win over a ranked Johns Hopkins team since 2016.
• Haydn Sommer had a career-high three goals and four points.
• Colin Kelly had his third multi-goal game of the season
• It was the sixth time through 10 games that RU limited an opponent to single-digit goals.
• Matthew Paolatto had a season-high in assists (2) and points (3), tying his career-high in assists.
• Ryan Splaine tied his career-high with six ground balls.
• RU held Johns Hopkins, who averaged 11.38 goals per game, to a new season-low
• RU held Johns Hopkins scoreless for the first 26:33 of the second half, turning a 6-5 deficit to a 10-6 advantage in that time
• 72% of the team's goals (8-of-11) came from freshmen or sophomores (Sommer, Kurdyla, Zeller, Aiello)
• The win over No. 11 was the highest ranked win for RU since Feb. 25, 2023 vs. No. 5/6 Loyola (were 0-10 in last 10 games versus teams ranked in top-12 nationally).
• Was highest ranked conference win since defeating No. 8/9 Ohio State on March 27, 2022)
  • Last regular season win against a ranked conference opponent was also this game
• Was highest ranked road win since winning at No. 6 Ohio State on Feb. 27, 2021

Up Next

Rutgers is back on the road for their next Big Ten game. The Scarlet Knights fly to Columbus to meet No. 9 Ohio State. The game is at 1 p.m. on Saturday.