No. 19 Men’s Lacrosse Hosts No. 14/16 Penn State Friday

Friday, April 17

Piscataway, N.J.

8:00 PM

Rutgers University

Penn State

Tickets From $20

Photo by: Mitchell Layton

No. 19 Men’s Lacrosse Hosts No. 14/16 Penn State Friday

Apr 15 | Men's Lacrosse

Watch on BTN Live Stats Rutgers Game Notes

Game is Senior Day and Alumni Appreciation Day

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 19 Rutgers men's lacrosse has a final regular season game on Friday with a ranked rivalry matchup and a host of festivities surrounding the game. The game against No. 14/16 Penn State starts at 8 pm on Friday night, with a Big Ten Network with Joe Beninati and Mark Dixon on the call.

Rutgers will host a Spring Cleaning Sale for merchandise at the game. Fans will have the opportunity to stock up on Scarlet Knights gear at major discounts, up to 80% off. Doors will open at 6:30 pm for fans to shop on the north concourse between gates C and D.

This will be the Blackout Game for Rutgers, with fans encouraged to wear black. There will be a giveaway of black block-R t-shirts and Rutgers and Big Ten co-branded light up sticks as supplies last.

The next game will determine positioning for the Big Ten Quarterfinals, held on the weekend of April 25, with RU hosting the Semifinals and Championship game at SHI Stadium on April 30 and May 2.

About Rutgers

The Scarlet Knights are 8-5 overall and 1-3 in league play, holding a double-overtime victory over No. 11 Johns Hopkins before losses to Michigan and No. 9 Maryland in their last two games. RU has been slowed by injuries, with John Scarelli, Haydn Sommer, Deacon Adams and Justin Lawler out last week.

Goalkeeper Cardin Stoller, who leads the Big Ten with 10.54 saves per game, enters the game with 492 career saves after his eighth double-digit save game of the year last week. He can become the ninth RU goalkeeper ever to reach 500 career saves with eight more stops. He can also tie Max Edelmann (2016-2019) for eighth all-time at RU with 15 more saves.

Colin Kurdyla leads the team with 28 goals, 24 assists and 52 points. Greyson Vorgang, who had two goals last week against the Terps for his seventh multi-goal game of the year, is second on the team with 23 goals.

Short-stick defensive midfielder Joe Juengerkes has 13 caused turnovers on the year. That places his tied for fourth in the national rankings for caused turnovers by short-stick players. Defenseman Connor Udovich leads the team with 22 caused turnovers, as he ranks second in the Big Ten.

Senior Day

Rutgers will recognize 18 seniors in a pregame ceremony starting at 7:10 pm. The Scarlet Knights will honor all of their graduates, regardless of potential future eligibility. The pregame ceremony will include Colin Kelly, Kasey Mongilllo, Jordan Smikle, Brady Kurdyla, Shane Murphy, Ryan Splaine, Ben McKelvy, Andrew Macheca, Andrew Crosby, Connor Udovich, Justin Lawler, Jack Lonsinger, Zach Walsh, Blake Borges, Cam Hitchcock, Brenden Kelly, Cardin Stoller and Joe Juengerkes.

Alumni Appreciation Day

As part of the team's annual Alumni Appreciation Day, held each year at the final home game, RU will welcome back the program's alumni for the game and a pregame event and gathering. Rutgers will welcome back four teams for anniversaries of their seasons – the 1976 team (50 years), the 1988 team (40 years), the 2001 team (25 years) and the 2016 team (10 years).

Remembering Doc Peterson

At this game, Rutgers will honor the memory of someone quite special to the program, Doc Peterson. Earl "Doc" Peterson was involved with the Rutgers program for over 50 years as a supporter, mentor, contributor, advisor to players and coaches and a valued friend. He shared his wisdom and guidance with both members of the team and the staff. He forged many lasting relationships with many players throughout the years.

Doc recently passed away at the age of 92 and will be greatly missed by the entire Rutgers lacrosse community. Doc's name will be on the back of every player's jersey for the game.

Big Ten Tournament Scenarios

With a tightly contested Big Ten standings, RU has a host of possibilities for the Big Ten Quarterfinals next week. There are eight different combinations of results possible with the three Big Ten games this weekend. Rutgers cannot earn a bye, but can finish anywhere from 4-6, which means they are alive for either a home or road game.

With a Rutgers loss, they will be the No. 6 seed. As the No. 6 seed, they could travel to either Penn State, Ohio State or Maryland for the Quarterfinals.

With a Rutgers win, they will be the No. 4 or No. 5 seed. To earn the No. 4 seed, there are two possibilities. If Rutgers/Maryland/Michigan win their games next week, No. 4 Rutgers hosts No. 5 Johns Hopkins. If Rutgers/Johns Hopkins/Michigan win, RU can be the No. 4 seed if it beats Penn State by two or more goals, while Penn State would host RU next week with a 1-goal RU win Friday. If Rutgers wins and Ohio State beats Michigan, No. 5 seed Rutgers will travel to No. 4 Michigan.

Rivalry Trophy

The game is annually contested for the Friendship Cup. The trophy debuted in 1998 as a symbol of the friendship of a group of four friends from Sewanhaka High School on Long Island who went off to college splitting two ways; one pair attending Penn State, and the other heading off to Rutgers, including the recently passed Tom Hayes, who was a Penn State alumn and then the long-time head coach at Rutgers. Since that trophy was instituted in 1998, RU has raised the Friendship Cup postgame as victors nine times.

About Penn State

Penn State holds a record of 6-5 overall and are 2-2 in Big Ten play. The Nittany Lions hold multi-goal wins over ranked teams over then-No. 3 Princeton (13-7), No. 7 Cornell (19-7), No. 11 Maryland (10-6) and No. 6 Ohio State (13-6), but have lost consecutive games to No. 14 Johns Hopkins and Michigan by one goal apiece.

In the national ranks, Penn State is third in shot percentage (34.5%), third in man-up offense (56.3%), eighth in caused turnovers (10.09 per game) and eighth in faceoff winning percentage (59.1%).

Kyle Lehman leads the team with 18 goals. Six players have between 12 and 18 goals. Preston Hawkins has a 9.26 goals-against-average and .497 save percentage.

Reid Gills is eight nationally with a 62.5% win percentage at the 'X', while Colby Baldwin is at 55.5%. Defenseman Alex Ross, a First Round pick by the PLL Tuesday, is third in the Big Ten with 1.64 caused turnovers per game.

About the Series

RU is 46-2 8 the all-time series but has lost four straight games. Since joining the Big Ten, RU is 5-8 against PSU. Rutgers' 46 victories over the Nittany Lions are the most wins for the program against any one team. From 2018 to 2022, RU won four of six against Penn State.

With a Win

A victory over No. 14/16 Penn State would represent Rutgers' ninth win of the season, the most wins for RU in a season since going 15-4 en route to the Final Four in 2022. RU would earn their second ranked win over a Big Ten team this season.