PISCATAWAY, NJ – The fourth-ranked Rutgers men's lacrosse team jumped out to a seven-goal first-half lead and never let visiting Johns Hopkins get closer than four the rest of the way as the Scarlet Knights knocked off the Blue Jays, 12-7, at SHI Stadium Sunday night.  The win improves the 'Knights record to 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten, while the Blue Jays slip to 5-6 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten.
 
The Scarlet Knights jumped out to a 4-2 lead at the end of the first quarter and pushed the lead to 9-4 at the half on the strength of a five-goal run to open the second quarter.   At one point, they held a 9-2 lead for their biggest lead of the game with less than four minutes remaining in the first half.
 
A Ryan Gallagher rebound goal less than two minutes into second quarter jump-started the five-goal run and he capped the spree nine minutes later when the scored off a failed clear.  In between, the 'Knights got strikes from Jack Aimone, Zack Franckowiak and Mitch Bartolo to build a 9-2 lead.
 
The Blue Jays halted the run with back-to-back goals in a 24-second span late in the second quarter as Johnathan Peshko worked his way to the goal and scored from in tight and Dylan Bauer added his third goal of the year when he dodged from behind the goal and beat Rutgers goalie Colin Kirst from the side just off the crease.
 
The second half saw both defenses settle in as the 13 combined goals in the first half were followed by a total of six after halftime.
 
Rutgers pushed its 9-4 halftime lead to 10-4 just over a minute into the third quarter as Shane Knobloch fired home an extra-man goal that Blue Jay goalie Josh Kirson got a piece of, but it hit off the post then off Kirson and into the net.
 
The Blue Jays trimmed the 10-4 deficit to 11-7 by the end of the third quarter as Connor DeSimone answered the Knobloch goal with an unassisted strike just 37 seconds later to ignite a 3-1 spurt for Johns Hopkins.
 
Neither team would score for more than eight minutes after the DeSimone tally before Garrett Degnon scored on the run for the Blue Jays to make it 10-6 with 4:24 showing on the third-quarter clock.  Knobloch and Johns Hopkins' Jack Keogh traded goals in the final 3:14 of the third quarter to make it 11-7 at the end of the third, but the only scoring of the fourth quarter would be a Mitch Bartolo unassisted goal for Rutgers with 4:24 remaining to account for the 12-7 final score.
 
What It Means
• Johns Hopkins is tied with Ohio State at 1-1 in the Big Ten with a key game between the Blue Jays and Buckeyes coming up next Saturday in Columbus.
 
Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• In his most extensive action of the season, Matt Narewski was 14-of-23 on faceoffs with 11 ground balls.
 
• Keogh was the only multi-point scorer for the Blue Jays as he scored twice on the night.
 
• The Blue Jay defense held the Scarlet Knights nearly five goals below their season scoring average and forced seven Rutgers shot clock violations.
 
Inside the Box Score – Rutgers
• Knobloch paced Rutgers with three goals and two assists and Jacoby added two goals and two assists.
 
• Rutgers held advantages in shots (35-29) and ground balls (39-30); the Scarlet Knights did commit 21 turnovers.
 
Up Next
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, April 9 when the Blue Jays travel to Ohio State to take on the Buckeyes (12 pm).  The Hopkins-Ohio State game will air live on ESPNU.