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Rutgers Lacrosse: B1G schedule on the horizon

Nardella earns second B1G weekly honor.

By rvc73
scarletknights.com

MEN

Beating Princeton is never easy.  Beating a ranked Princeton is even tougher.  The Knights made it interesting last week as they came up just short against the No. 10/13 Tigers at home.  That was followed by a feel good 21-2 downing of first year program NJIT.  Sometimes you just have to stretch those muscles to get back on track, and it doesn't matter against what team.

Against Princeton, Christian Trasolini scored three goals to lead Rutgers, who also got two goals apiece from Jeff George and Scott Bieda. Joe Nardella was 19-of-27 at the faceoff "X" and 13 ground balls.

"I'm very proud of the effort and the way we competed tonight," head coach Brian Brecht said. "I know it hurts everyone being involved in a one goal game that comes down to the last possession in the final seconds. This was the third time a top-10 team came to town, and we are better now as a program then we were a few weeks ago."

Against the Highlanders, the Scarlet Knights(4-6) scored a season-high 21 goals en route to a 21-2 victory over NJIT (0-6) on a snowy evening on the first day of spring.  Brian Goss scored a career-high five goals, freshman Jules Heningburg set a new career-best with four scores, and Scott Bieda had four tallies in the victory that closed out the team's non-conference slate.

Results and upcoming schedule

3/17/15

vs. Princeton

Piscataway, N.J.

L, 12-11

3/20/15

vs. NJIT

Piscataway, N.J.

W, 21-2

3/28/15

at Johns Hopkins *

Baltimore, Md.

2:00 p.m. ET

Big Ten Standings

2015 MEN

Overall

Conference

W-L

%

W-L

%

Maryland

6-1

.857

0-0

.000

Ohio State

7-3

.700

0-0

.000

Michigan

4-4

.500

0-0

.000

Rutgers

4-6

.400

0-0

.000

Johns Hopkins

3-5

.375

0-0

.000

Penn State

3-5

.375

0-0

.000

Standings current through Saturday, March 21

Big Ten Awards

Offensive Player of the Week

Joe LoCascio, Maryland, M - Sr. - Lindenhurst, N.Y.

  • Scored a career-high five goals in the Terrapins' 10-8 win over No. 2/2 North Carolina
  • Scored three goals in a 5-0 run, and recorded the game-winner with five minutes remaining
  • Gathered two ground balls

Defensive Player of the Week

Matt Dunn, Maryland, D - Jr. - Towson, Md.

  • Anchored a defensive unit that held nationally ranked North Carolina eight goals below its season average in a 10-8 victory
  • Caused one turnover, and helped Maryland record 11 saves

Specialist of the Week

Joe Nardella, Rutgers, M - Sr. - Cazenovia, N.Y.

  • Secured 33-of-44 faceoffs, gathered 17 ground balls and tallied two points against nationally ranked Princeton and NJIT
  • Against Princeton, won 19-of-27 faceoffs (.704), collected 13 ground balls and scored a goal
  • Claimed 14-of-17 (.824) faceoffs, gathered four ground balls and added an assist in the 21-2 win over NJIT
  • Earns his second career Big Ten Specialist of the Week honor and second in as many weeks

Freshman of the Week

Matt Neufeldt, Maryland, LSM - Fr. - Naperville, Ill.

  • Collected a career-high nine ground balls and caused a turnover in the Terrapins' win over No. 2/2 North Carolina
  • Helped Maryland hold the Tar Heels scoreless for more than 33 minutes

National Rankings

RANK

SCHOOL

RECORD

POINTS

PREVIOUS

1

Syracuse (25)

7-0

500

1

2

Notre Dame

5-1

471

3

3

Maryland

6-1

448

5

4

North Carolina

9-1

428

2

5

Denver

6-2

385

6

6

Duke

7-2

371

4

7

Cornell

6-2

349

7

8

Virginia

6-2

338

8

9

Albany

5-1

292

11

10

Princeton

6-1

276

13

11

Yale

5-2

230

T9

12

Marquette

7-1

211

T9

13

Brown

6-1

198

12

14

Georgetown

6-3

182

NR

15

Ohio State

7-3

116

15

16

Loyola Maryland

5-4

115

14

17

Army

6-3

113

19

18

Towson

6-3

58

18

19

Boston University

6-2

45

NR

20

Johns Hopkins

3-5

37

20

Inside Lacrosse, March 23

WOMEN

The women continue to struggle as they reach the mid-point of the season.  At 1-8, the sit at the bottom of the Big Ten, and the conference season hasn't started.  They face the bigger challenge with more ranked conference opponents than the men.  The road doesn't get any easier with undefeated and No. 12/8 Stony Brook facing them Tuesday night.

In their last game, four goals in the final seven minutes of action were not enough for the Knights to overcome an early deficit in a 9-5 loss to Hofstra last Wednesday at home. Redshirt senior Lauren Sbrilli posted a hat trick during the run and led RU with four goals, but the Pride iced the game in the final minutes for the win.

Knight Notes

  • Sbrilli regained the Scarlet Knights' points (22) and goal (20) lead last time out with her four-goal game versus the Pride. For her career, Sbrilli is four goals shy of 100.
  • Sbrilli has scored nine goals over the last two games.
  • Senior goalie Candice Dandrige (Cherry Hill, N.J.) leads the Big Ten Conference with 9.0 saves per game.
  • Senior Jenny Vlahos (Manhasset, N.Y.) is two draw controls away from reaching the century mark for her career.
  • Junior Kim Kolodny (Farmingdale, N.Y.) leads the league with 0.89 free position goals per game.

Results and upcoming schedule

3/18/15

vs. Hofstra

Piscataway, N.J.

L, 9-5

3/24/15

at No. 12/8 Stony Brook

Stony Brook, N.Y.

7:00 p.m. ET

Big Ten Championships

Rutgers will host the inaugural Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Championships beginning April 30 at Highpoint Solutions Stadium.  It is the first - and only - conference championship that Rutgers will host this year.

Big Ten Standings

2015 Women

Overall

Conference

W-L

%

W-L

%

Maryland

9-0

1.000

0-0

.000

Ohio State

8-2

.800

0-0

.000

Northwestern

5-2

.714

0-0

.000

Penn State

6-3

.667

0-0

.000

Michigan

5-4

.556

0-0

.000

Rutgers

1-8

.111

0-0

.000

Standings current through Sunday, March 22

Big Ten Women's Awards

Offensive Player of the Week

Taylor Cummings, Maryland, M - Jr. - Ellicott City, Md

  • Scored five goals and tallied four assists en route to nine points in wins over nationally ranked Penn and James Madison
  • In the victory over No. 11 Penn, scored three goals and added two assists, while also recording a career-high 11 draw controls and gathering two ground balls
  • Scored two goals and contributed a pair of assists in the win over No. 15 James Madison
  • Currently leads the Big Ten with 4.67 points per game and 6.89 draw controls per game, and has scored a conference-best four game-winning goals

Defensive Player of the Week

Alice Mercer, Maryland, D - Jr. - Woodbine, Md.

  • Anchored a defensive unit that helped Maryland produce a pair of wins over No. 11 Penn and No. 15 James Madison
  • The Terrapin defense limited Penn to just seven goals, nearly five below its season average

Freshman of the Week

Megan Whittle, Maryland, A - Glenwood, Md.

  • Scored a combined seven goals and posted one assist in Maryland's victories over nationally ranked Penn and James Madison
  • Scored four goals in the 12-7 victory over Penn
  • Scored three goals and added an assist in the 14-10 win over James Madison

National Rankings

RANK

SCHOOL

RECORD

POINTS

PREVIOUS

1

Maryland (13)

9-0

260

1

2

Boston College

9-0

247

4

3

North Carolina

8-2

217

3

4

Northwestern

5-2

213

6

4

Duke

9-1

213

2

6

Syracuse

8-3

182

5

7

Virginia

6-4

176

10

8

Stony Brook

7-0

165

14

9

Stanford

4-0

159

8

10

Florida

6-4

140

7

11

Penn

7-1

128

11

12

Louisville

7-2

121

12

13

Princeton

6-1

120

13

14

Ohio State

8-2

92

9

15

James Madison

7-3

68

15

16

Penn State

6-3

59

16

17

Albany

7-1

54

18

18

Notre Dame

5-4

45

19

19

Loyola Maryland

5-4

44

17

20

Johns Hopkins

6-2

9

NR

Inside Lacrosse, March 23