Syracuse Lacrosse: Previewing the Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Opponent

School: Rutgers

Mascot: Scarlet Knights

Coach: Brian Brecht

Location: off of a highway, New Jersey

Conference: Big Ten

Game Location: Piscataway, NJ

Game Time: 1 PM

Television/Radio: Big Ten Plus / TK99/105

All-Time Syracuse Record Vs. Opponent: 16-1

Previous Matchup: 12-11 Syracuse Win (2013)

Opponent Ranking: #16 Coaches Poll

Quick Facts

2018 Record: 5-2

2018 Conference Record: 0-0

2017 Conference Postseason Results: DNQ

2017 NCAA Tournament Postseason Results: DNQ

2018 Team Statistics

Total Goals– Shot Attempts: 74-235

Total Opponent Goals– Shot Attempts: 61-238

EMO Goals (Percentage): 4 (.286)

EMO Goals Against (Opp. Percentage): 7 (.318)

Team Shooting Percentage: .316

Opponent Shooting Percentage: .256

Shots on Goal Percentage: .637

Opponent Shots on Goal Percentage: .521

Groundballs: 197

Opponent Groundballs: 200

Turnovers: 86

Caused Turnovers: 43

Faceoffs: 77/161 (.478)

Clearing Percentage: .871

Opponent Clearing Percentage: .802

Penalties: 18:00 PIM

First of all, thank you. Thank you to whomever you are who decided to not put this game on St. Paddy’s day. For the first time in a long time Syracuse will not be playing a game on the Saturday of St. Patrick’s day which has put an annual cramp in my bar crawl plans. I preciate y’all.

Second of all, I’ve had this song stuck in my head all day. Now hopefully you will too. Enjoy.

Next up, do you know what’s on Big Ten Network at 1 PM on Sunday? As of right now it is “To Be Announced” followed by “B1G Football & Beyond: Pro Day Edition”. That’s nice, because the Syracuse Orange and Rutgers Scarlet Knights lacrosse game will be on Big Ten Plus. Good luck everyone.

Rutgers is 5-2 coming into Sunday. After an overtime loss to the Princeton Tigers last weekend, the Scarlet Knights barely escaped Lehigh Mountain Hawks on Wednesday. With just under a minute remaining against the Mountain Hawks and a one goal Rutgers lead, Lehigh freshman long pole Teddy Leggett was tagged with a slashing call giving Rutgers a man up and the ball in the offensive end. For some reason Jules Heningburg, instead of passing to an open man, tried to split a double team and was stripped. Lehigh got the ball into the offensive end and out of a timeout couldn’t get a shot off with ten seconds to go.

Rutgers holds a top twenty ranking right now but this is a team that at one point was ranked first in the nation last year before imploding and failing to make the NCAA Tournament.

As for the Orange, Syracuse sits at 3-2 with two top five opponents on the horizon. This leaves the game against Rutgers as a big opportunity to solidify its resume.

Notes:

· Nearly half of Syracuse’s 21 penalties have come in its two losses

· Other than the game versus Binghamton, Syracuse has lost every groundball battle

· Brendan Bomberry had five goals against the Bearcats and since that time has been limited to one goal and seven shots in four games

· Nate Solomon returns after a one game suspension and will try and build on his 10 points

· Rutgers and Syracuse have both struggled at the faceoff X this year, this will be a good opportunity for Danny Varello to try and build some momentum

· Last weekend was the first time since May 5, 2014 that a Syracuse senior did not score in a game

· Syracuse had problems defending the inside feeds something that they can hopefully clear up because Rutgers has a fantastic offense on the crease

· There are four players from Georgia playing in this game as well as three players from Utah

ATTACK

Senior Jules Heningburg can find the open seems and attack the interior effectively. The New Jersey native is coming off of a 46 point season and leads Rutgers with 16 goals and 18 assists. He currently sits 11^th in the nation in assists per game. Kieran Mullins is a crease rat. As a freshman Mullins had a massive 35 goals and 16 assists including eight goals at Michigan. He is currently following that up with a 12 goal, eight assist season as a sophomore and he put up five goals and an assist at Princeton last weekend.

The Scarlet Knights have one freshman starting at attack in Tommy Coyne who while originally is from Georgia played high school ball in Naperville, IL. The freshman got his first start in the second game this season against the St. John’s Red Storm getting his first career point.

MIDFIELD

After putting away two against Lehigh on Wednesday, Christian Mazzone has now equaled his 2017 goal mark of 12. The senior will start alongside Casey Rose, a dangerous shooter on the run who has 11 goals on the year.

Christian Trasolini has started four of six games this year after missing the entire 2017 season with an injury. He has been replaced on the starting midfield the last two games by Ryan Gallagher, a freshman out of Atlanta, GA.

DEFENSE

Rutgers returns a very experienced defense beginning with 2017 first team All-Big Ten defenseman Michael Rexrode. The senior captain had a career high 23 caused turnovers last season along with 29 groundballs. He will be next to fellow senior and three year starter Alex Bronzo. I would expect Garrett Bullett to be the third starter. The Utah(n?) has one of those elusive, double redshirt freshman and has 13 groundballs on the year. This defense is pretty deep so I would also expect to see a rotation that includes another Utah boy in Garrett Michaeli.

The Rutgers defense got burned on the crease over and over again versus Princeton, allowing five goals from Austin Sims and three goals and six assists from Michael Sowers. However it stood tall on Wednesday against Lehigh allowing just seven goals.

GOAL

There were high hopes for Max Edelmann after being named second team All-Big Ten in 2017. Right now though the senior is hovering around a .500 save percentage, last in the Big Ten, and he sits 41^st in the nation in saves per game. Edelmann is in his fifth year of post-high school lacrosse. He enrolled at Rutgers following two years playing at the Community College of Baltimore County where he was a JUCO standout.

The Syracuse Orange travel to face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday. The game can be seen on the Big Ten Plus and heard on TK 99/105. Of course you can also follow me @Orangelax for updates.