NJIT men's lacrosse hosts Monmouth Saturday for a 12pm game at Drew University's Ranger Stadium.
For the second consecutive year the Highlanders call Ranger Stadium home while construction continues on the new Wellness and Events Center at NJIT's campus.
ALL TIME SERIES
The Highlanders (0-10) and Hawks (7-3) have played each other twice since men's lacrosse became a varsity sport at NJIT.
Monmouth leads the series 2-0, defeating NJIT 6-3 on March 17, 2015 and 12-5 on March 8, 2016.
In last year's match-up, the Hawks were up 6-0 at halftime. However the Highlanders made it a game in the second half only getting outscored by one, 6-5.
A LOOK AT THE HAWKS
Monmouth currently has a four-game win streak defeating Quinnipiac, Siena and Marist, with their latest victory coming over Lafayette on Tuesday night in a close 9-8 game.
Monmouth was picked to finish second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in their annual Preseason Coaches' Poll in February. Quinnipiac received the unanimous decision first place vote, and were defeated by the Hawks 8-7 in 2OT. Monmouth are 3-0 in conference play with three more games remaining.
As a team Monmouth ranks eighth in Division I men's lacrosse in scoring defense giving up only 7.80 goals per game, and 11
th in caused turnovers per game with 8.50.
Bryce Wasserman leads the Hawks with 23 points on 15 goals and a team-high eight assists. Wasserman won MAAC Offensive Player of the Week once already this season.
Tyler Keen is one of the team three captains and is the leader in goals with 19, while Griffin Rigel and Eamon Campbell each have 14 points each.
Freshman Justin Schwenk is .500 from the faceoff circle and leads the team in ground balls with 45. Schwenk has been named MAAC Rookie of the Week twice so far in 2017.
Dylan Schulte, Garrett Pfifer and Neil Ruppert each lead the team in caused turnovers with 12 apiece.
In goal for Monmouth is Nick Hreshko who has a 7-3 record on the year and a .578 save percentage with 107 saves. Hreshko has earned MAAC Defensive Player of the Week four times so far, and ranks ninth in the nation in goals-against average (7.69) and 10
th in save percentage.
Returning defender, and one of the Hawks captains, Andrew Grajewski was picked for the Preseason All-MAAC team and was an All-MAAC First Team selection in 2015.
Joining his fellow seniors Keen and Grajewski, Eric Berger is also a 2017 team captain
A LOOK AT THE HIGHLANDERS
After a two week hiatus, the Highlanders are ready to get back to action. Five games remain for NJIT in 2017 with Monmouth, Lafayette, Hampton, Manhattan and UMass-Lowell.
Aaron Forster leads the team in goals (23) and points (26). Forster recently broke five NJIT records. The sophomore sits atop the NJIT rankings in career assists (16), career goals (38), career points (54), goals in a game (5) and holds the record for goals in a season with five games remaining in the 2017 season.
Forster also has five man-up goals this season, ranking him 10
th in the nation in man-up goals.
The Ryan triple threat of
Ryan Callaghan,
Ryan Darrow and
Ryan Kaden combine for 26 goals and 16 assists between them.
Callaghan has 12 goals and six assists for 18 points and has a 13 game point streak happening that started on April 2, 2016. The senior has scored at least one goal or registered one point in the last 13 games, and will tie
Joe Lomeli's point's streak record of 18 if he records a point in the rest of the games in 2017.
Darrow has with nine goals and four assists and freshman Kaden leads the team with Callaghan posting six-assists and adding five goals.
John Tachon is the team leader in ground balls with 49 and caused turnovers with 11.
Cameron Cronk has started in the Highlanders last five games stopping 65 shots and posting a .458 save percentage, while captain
Nick Marzullo has five starts on the year, with 54 saves and a .462 save percentage.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Highlanders travel to Lafayette on Tuesday, April 8 for a 7pm game at Fisher Stadium.
Lafayette leads the series 2-0.
