Four from Men’s Lacrosse Named Scholar All-Americans by USILA

Four from Men’s Lacrosse Named Scholar All-Americans by USILA

Jul 01 | Men's Lacrosse

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's lacrosse had four student-athletes named as Scholar All-Americans. Joe Juengerkes, Tommy Mendyke Matthew Paolatto, and Ben Stephanos were recognized by the USILA.

Juengerkes was a difference maker for the Scarlet Knights in his initial season after a transfer from Princeton. Named a team captain ahead of his first season on the field in a Scarlet Knights uniform, the Islip, N.Y. native was named Second Team All-Big Ten. A two-time selection to the USILA Team of the Week. The short-stick defensive midfielder had seven goals, four assists, 55 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers.

Mendyke was a team captain for 2025 as a senior. The native of Eden Prairie, Minn. played in 46 games as a Scarlet Knight, starting 30 of them. In that time, he had 56 ground balls and 34 caused turnovers, with season-highs of 34 ground balls and 21 caused turnovers this past season, seventh in the Big Ten in caused turnovers per game. He also added a goal and two assists. The President of Rutgers' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Mendyke was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, the 2024 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner, and a 2025 Big Ten Preseason Player to Watch.

Stephanos transferred to Rutgers from UMBC ahead of the 2025 season had a strong season on the RU defense. The native of Ellicott City, Md. started all 16 games and had 28 ground balls and 16 caused turnovers, with five games of multiple caused turnovers. For his collegiate career, he totaled 86 ground balls and 44 caused turnovers across 47 collegiate games.

Behind the efforts of Juengerkes, Mendyke and Stephanos on the defensive side of the field, Rutgers defense was sixth nationally in scoring defense at 8.88 goals allowed per game. That was the lowest goals per game allowed by Rutgers since 2011, and their best national ranking in scoring defense over that span.

Paolatto joined RU for the 2025 season after three seasons at Union, where he was a three-time All-American and Faceoff Person of the Year in 2024 at the Division III level. The Sherborn, Mass. native excelled in 2025 in his lone campaign as a Scarlet Knight. Named an Honorable Mention All-American by Inside Lacrosse, he was also once named to the USILA Team of the Week. He won 173-of-292 faceoffs, with 99 ground balls, two goals, four assists and five caused turnovers. He ranked 16^th nationally with 6.19 ground balls per game and 15^th (second in the Big Ten) with a faceoff winning percentage of 59.2%. He was signed by the PLL's Whipsnakes for the 2025 pro lacrosse season.

With the addition of these four Scholar All-Americans, Rutgers now has 46 Scholar All-Americans in program history, including 42 in the past 11 years and 33 in the past six years.

Last season, RU had three Scholar All-Americans as Brandon Hund, Shane Knobloch and Ross Scott were recognized. The year prior, RU had five Scholar All-Americans (Bobby Russo, Brad Apgar, David Sprock, Jonathan Dugenio and Ross Scott). Zackary Franckowiak, Colin Kirst, Ethan Rall, Brennan Kamish, Jaryd Jean-Felix, Ronan Jacoby, Ryan Gallagher and Mitch Bartolo were all recognized as USILA Schoalr All-Americans in 2022. In 2021 Adam Charalambides, Ryan Gallagher, Jaryd Jean-Felix, Connor Kirst, Zach Masessa and Kieran Mullins all earned the accolade. In 2020, Kieran Mullins and Adam Charalambides were recognized. The 2019 group was Adam Charalambides, Mark Christiano, Max Edelmann, Garrett Michaeli and Kyle Pless. Those selections joined Christian Mazzone and Michael Rexrode (2018), Connor Murphy (2017), Scott Bieda and Zack Sikora (2016), Joe Nardella and Campbell Sode (2015), Will Mangan (2012), Brian Shemesh (2011), Jamie Lovejoy (2005) and Jeff Duca (2003).

The USILA Scholar All-America Program was established to recognize student-athletes from USILA member institutions who have distinguished themselves academically, athletically and as citizens of their communities. The USILA Selection Committee selects an overall team representing Division I, II and III.

Rutgers also was recognized this year with 15 Academic All-Big Ten selections.