No. 18 Rutgers Men’s Lacrosse Drops 13-7 Decision To No. 1 Loyola

It was a huge opportunity for Rutgers men’s lacrosse in hosting the top ranked team in the country in Loyola on Saturday. Unfortunately, leading scorer Kieran Mullins sat out due to an injury and the Scarlet Knights fell behind 6-2 at the end of the first quarter. While they competed hard and kept the score respectable against the Greyhounds, they lacked the firepower to keep it close. Loyola won the game 13-7.

Rutgers fell behind 10-3 in the third quarter before rattling off three straight goals, but couldn’t get any closer the rest of the way.

Both teams produced 40 shots and had 25 each on goal, but the Greyhounds simply found the back of the net more often. Loyola’s Jacob Stover has 18 saves while Max Edelmann of Rutgers made 12 in his second game back from injury.

While Rutgers had a +8 turnover margin, they lost faceoffs 16-7. The Scarlet Knights are still without faceoffs specialist Connor Harryman, who has missed the past three games due to injury and there is no specified return date as of yet. Loyola also held a 41-30 advantage with ground balls.

Three-time All-American Pat Spencer led the visitors with 5 goals and 2 assists for a game high 7 points. Kevin Lindley had 4 goals while Chase Scanlan added 3 scores.

For Rutgers Owen Meade was the only multiple scorer, netting 2 goals. Adam Charalambides scores the first goal of the game but was shut out the rest of the way. He added an assist for two points, which Mark Schachte did as well, posting a goal and an assist.

Head coach Brian Brecht had this to say after the game:

“Loyola is a good team. They have two of the most talented players in the country in their position in Pat Spencer on attack and Jacob Stover in goal. They have talented players and they are well coached. So give credit to them for the win. We spotted them too much early on, then we settled in and started chipping away. We had some opportunities late, but their goalkeeper made 18 saves. We have some talented players, we’re going to lean on them, and continue to develop some other guys and bring them along. It’s a long season, so we’ll keep working in practices on improving as the season unfolds.”

Next up the Scarlet Knights (2-2) travel to Fairfield next Saturday at 1 p.m. There are plenty of more quality opponents on the schedule before Big Ten play even begins as Rutgers looks to rebound from consecutive losses.