On a sizzling, sun-splashed afternoon at Hofstra’s Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, Lengthy Island, Rutgers and Penn punched and counter-punched, every workforce getting up off the mat when it appeared the sport could also be getting away from them. And simply if you thought Rutgers’ magical run could also be coming to an finish, down a pair with 9 minutes left within the match, the Scarlet Knights scored 5 consecutive targets and salted the sport away.

Rutgers reached the semifinals and championship weekend for the primary time in program historical past, heading to East Hartford, CT to face the winner of Cornell-Delaware on Saturday, Might twenty eighth (time TBA).

1st Quarter Motion

Each groups seemed to be taking part in tense and nervous, with an abundance of misfired photographs nicely off cage. Rutgers would rating the one two targets of the interval, the primary by Ross Scott, his forty ninth of the season, with just below 5 minutes left within the quarter. Shane Knobloch would add the second on the 1:59 mark, his thirtieth of the season, to place Rutgers up 2-0 heading into the second.

Rutgers outshot Penn 15-10 with every goalie making 4 saves. The Knights uncharacteristically turned the ball over 5 occasions and Penn received all three face-offs.

2nd Quarter Motion

One minute into the interval, Gabe Furey ended Penn’s drought and put the Quakers within the scoring column. Penn’s Cam Rubin would then knot the rating 2-all on a objective on the 11.48 mark. The groups would commerce two targets every, with Ronan Jacoby notching objective No. 36 on the 10:29 mark. With the rating tied 3-apiece, Islip, Lengthy Island native Ethan Rall would put the Knights again up 4-3 on a man-down state of affairs. With :54 left within the quarter, Penn’s most prolific scorer, Dylan Gergar, notched his forty ninth of the season to tie the sport up 4-all heading into halftime.

Rutgers outshot Penn 15-8 and 30-18 for the half however Quaker goalie Patrick Berkinshaw did his greatest impersonation of a brick wall, stopping shot after shot and ending the primary half with 11 saves. The Knights performed a cleaner 2nd quarter, turning the ball over solely twice whereas the Quakers had seven miscues. Jonathan DuGenio fared higher on face-offs, profitable 3 of seven within the quarter.

third Quarter Motion

Mitch Bartolo opened up the scoring together with his forty second tally of the season on the 12:49 mark and Zackary Frankowiak added a objective at 5:58 to push the Knights’s result in 6-4. The Quakers countered with two targets of their very own, the primary by Gergar on the 5:22 mark and fewer than a minute later, Robert Schain would knot the rating up as soon as once more, 6-all.

The groups every had 11 photographs within the quarter. Kirst confronted seven that had been on objective and saved 5. Face-offs had been as soon as once more in favor of Penn, 3-2.

4th Quarter Motion

On the 13:40 mark, the Quakers took their first lead of the sport, 7-6, on a objective by Chris Canet. Just a little over a minute later, Gergar scored his 51st of the season, Penn’s 4th consecutive objective, to place the Quakers up 8-6. With all of the momentum, the Quakers then received the face-off and had a number of probabilities to pad their lead. All-American Quaker Sam Handley missed huge from quick vary, Penn retrieved the grounder, Furey’s shot was saved by Kirst with Penn as soon as once more scooping up the bottom ball. Kirst made yet one more save on Gergar’s shot and Rutgers was capable of lastly acquire possession.

After Rutgers safely cleared, coach Brecht known as a timeout. Out of the timeout, as we’ve seen the Knights do all season, Knobloch scored on an help from Mitch Bartolo to drag inside one.

Jonathan Dugenio struggled a lot of the sport however he received the following essential face-off and Rutgers tied the rating 8-all on a phenomenal help from Scott to Brian Cameron. With 5:38 remaining within the match, freshman Dante Kulas who had missed seven video games after being injured on this exact same area at Hofstra, fired a laser in for his first objective since March nineteenth to place the Knights again up 9-8.

Penn received the following face-off however a stout Rutgers protection blocked a shot and Kirst made yet one more save. Franckowiak would scoop the grounder and clear and Knobloch would notch the hat trick on the 3:39 mark to place Rutgers again up two, 10-8.

On the 1:08 mark, the Quakers turned the ball over, Bryant Boswell took it coast to coast and despatched one previous Burkinshaw to provide the Knights an 11-8 lead. The Quakers would win the face-off and rating ten seconds later to shut inside 11-9 and maintain the drama alive. Penn would then win yet one more face-off however Ethan Rall would trigger a turnover, which the Knights did not clear. Kirst would make save No. 18 with 20 ticks left and historical past was made. Last rating: Rutgers 11, Penn 9.

Colin Kirst had 12 saves within the 2nd half, together with 7 within the remaining body. The Quakers would win the face-off battle within the quarter, 6-3, and 16-8 for the sport however the Rutgers protection and Kirst had been capable of get the ball again to their offense, which made probably the most of restricted alternatives.

Rutgers dominated the 4th Quarter, outscoring the Quakers 5-3. The depth of the workforce paid off as soon as once more because the Knights regarded recent and fast whereas the Quakers had been a step slower. When it regarded like the sport may get away from the Knights, they discovered a solution to tie after which take the lead, pulling away in a dominant remaining 9 minutes of motion. We’ve got seen this resiliency earlier than from this unit that continues to rewrite historical past.

Oregon Path Closed

The 2 Beaver-state stars, Ross Scott and Sam Handley, had been held in test as every coach made it some extent to not let the opponent’s greatest participant beat them. Scott completed with one objective and one help. Handley was held to zero targets and three assists.

Watch the Postgame Press Convention:

Up Subsequent

Championship Weekend in East Hartford, CT. Rutgers will face the winner of Cornell-Delaware.

As I’m penning this, Colin Kirst’s mother is touring out to Ohio to catch C.J.’s recreation tomorrow versus the Blue Hens. What a storyline we might have with D-1 lacrosse’s most well-known mother watching her two sons sq. off subsequent Saturday.