Rutgers Lacrosse: Men and women both fall in B1G play

MEN

Thirteen seconds.  That's all that stood between the Rutgers men's lacrosse team and taking the No. 3 team in the country into overtime.  But it took just a quick flick of a stick by Maryland's Matt Rambo to put the Terps up 9-8 with just 13 seconds to go, and that would be the final score.

A game broadcast on BTN, and replayed the next day, was more than a little entertaining.  It showed that while the Terps may be among the nation's elite, Rutgers could play with them.

The Knights got two goals from both Christian Trasolini and Jeff George, and led 4-2 at halftime.  They mounted a comeback to tie the score at 8-8 with less than four minutes to play before the final result.

"I'm very proud of our guys tonight," head coach Brian Brecht said. "This effort was a reflection of how they prepared and how they committed to this game plan and their opponent all throughout the week. We had a great week of practice, both individually and collectively as a whole, and it showed out there tonight against the number three team in the country."

Down 8-6 at the 11-minute mark in the fourth quarter, RU started its comeback. Scott Bieda found Brian Goss for a man up goal with 7:04 left in the contest. Bieda then scored an unassisted goal at the 3:34 mark to tie the game at eight, driving a shot through a narrow slit between the goalie's shoulder and the pipe.

The Knights have a big game coming up against PSU.  Both teams have struggled and this is a chance for one of them to avoid the bottom spot in the conference.

B1G MLax Standings	Overall		Conference
	W-L	%	W-L	%
Maryland	11-1	.917	3-0	1.000
Ohio State	10-3	.769	3-0	1.000
Johns Hopkins	5-6	.455	2-1	.667
Michigan	5-6	.455	1-2	.333
Rutgers	4-9	.308	0-3	.000
Penn State	3-8	.273	0-3	.000

Standings current through Sunday, April 12

Results and Upcoming Schedule

04/12/15	vs. Maryland	Piscataway, N.J.	L, 9-8
04/19/15	at Penn State *	State College, Pa.	6:00 p.m. ET

Attendance

A crowd of 1,776, the largest of the season, saw the Maryland game.  The Knights host one more game in Piscataway on April 25 versus Ohio State.  Rutgers trails the conference in average attendance.  But the teams with the largest totals, with the exception of PSU, are the teams leading the standings.

RU MLax ATTENDANCE	Home	Road
Total	5582	2952
Dates/Avg Per Date	8/698	5/590

B1G attendance (does not include Maryland game)

B1G Attendance	Home	Average
Johns Hopkins	6-10925	1821
Maryland	6-13844	2307
Michigan	7-4937	705
Ohio State	6-6322	1054
Penn State	3-3061	1020
Rutgers	7-3806	544
Totals	35-42895	1226

Source: Big Ten Conference

Women

The special moment that is Senior Knight could not push the women to an upset of the No. 5 team in the country.

Rutgers women's lacrosse hung tough with Northwestern for the majority of the first half, but was unable to quiet the Wildcat attack in an 18-6 loss last Friday night at High Point Solutions Stadium.

Redshirt senior midfielder Lauren Sbrilli led the Scarlet Knights with a hat trick, junior attacker Halley Barnes scored twice and freshman attacker Kerri Puckhaber added a goal in the loss.

Prior to the game, Rutgers honored its six seniors -- Melissa Arthur, Candice Dandridge, Hollie DiMuro, Sbrilli, Erin Turkot and Jenny Vlahos -- at midfield to celebrate their careers "On the Banks."

The program's adopted sister from the Friends of Jaclyn foundation, Genna Camiolo, served as honorary captain and assisted with the pregame coin toss.

B1G WLax Standings	Overall		Conference
	W-L	%	W-L	%
Maryland	14-0	1.000	3-0	1.000
Penn State	10-3	.769	3-0	1.000
Northwestern	9-4	.692	2-1	.667
Ohio State	10-5	.667	1-2	.333
Michigan	5-9	.357	0-3	.000
Rutgers	1-13	.071	0-3	.000

Standings current through Sunday, April 12

Results and Upcoming Schedule

4/10/15	vs. No. 5/5 Northwestern *	Piscataway, N.J.	L, 18-6
4/16/15	at Ohio State *	Columbus, Ohio	7:00 p.m. ET

Attendance

The Northwestern game drew a crowd of 601, a number well above Rutgers'average attendance.  Similar to the men, the women's teams that draw the best - and worst - happen to be the teams that have played the best and worst.

RU WLax ATTENDANCE	Home	Road
Total	2145	3152
Dates/Avg Per Date	8/268	6/525

B1G Attendance	Home	Average
Maryland	8-7950	994
Michigan	6-1358	226
Northwestern	5-3600	720
Ohio State	6-1705	284
Penn State	8-2990	374
Rutgers	8-2145	268
Totals	41-19748	482

Source: Big Ten Conference

Again, why HSS?

Ohio State places in the Horseshoe.  I'd ask the same question of them that I ask of Rutgers playing in Highpoint Solution Stadium:  why?  It's even more absurd in Columbus, but having the men and women play at HSS is just.....well, unnecessary.  Yurcak Field is a good location, has a great pitch, and is more appropriate from a size perspective.  As I said in a prior post, if you're looking for video, put in a new scoreboard at Yurcak.  From my perspective, all those empty seats at Highpoint just take away from the game.