Game 13	NJIT (0-12) at Monmouth (4-5)
Date | Time	Saturday, April 7, 2018 | 1 p.m.
Location | Arena	West Long Branch, NJ | Kessler Stadium
Live Video | Live Audio	N/A
Live Stats	In-Game statistics (FREE)
Social Media	@njithighlanders            @njitlacrosse_
All-time series | Last Meeting	Monmouth leads 3-0 | Manhattan 12, NJIT 5   3.8.17

NJIT men's lacrosse is still searching for their first win of 2018, while Monmouth takes a break from MAAC play to host NJIT on Saturday.

ALL TIME SERIES

The Hawks are another team the Highlanders have played since becoming a varsity sport in 2015.

In year one the Hawks were victorious in a low scoring 6-3 win. The Highlanders posted their first ever lead in the loss, when they scored the first goal at 8:21 in the first quarter.

In 2016 the Hawks kept NJIT scoreless in the first half, posting a 6-0 lead. The Highlanders tried to make a comeback scoring five goals in the final two quarters, but fell 12-5.

Last season NJIT hosted, losing 10-5. NJIT goalie Nick Marzullo posted a new career high in saves with 17, but the senior would break his record later in the year against UMass Lowell grabbing 21 saves.

A LOOK AT THE HAWKS

Monmouth is 4-5 on the season, and has not won a home game thus far in 2018.

Most recently the Hawks lost to non-conference opponent Lafayette on Tuesday, 11-10. The game was close for all 60 minutes, and nine goals were scored in the final stanza. The Hawks trailed most of the game and finally took a 6-5 lead in the third, which would be their only lead of the game. Monmouth trailed 11-8 in the final two minutes, and were able to score two more goals to attempt the comeback.

The Hawks were a unanimous favorite in the MAAC pre-season poll, after winning their first conference title last season. Monmouth is 2-1 so far in conference play, having defeated Manhattan and Siena, but fell in OT to Detroit Mercy on March 24.

Bryce Wasserman, Dylan Schulte and Garrett Pfeifer were pick to the pre-season all-MAAC team.

Wasserman is the team leader in goals and points with 26 goals and 10 assists for 36 points. Griffin Figel is second on the team in points with 10 goals and 11 assists and Hunter Jones sits in third with 15 goals and three assists.

Chandler Vanderbeek has a team-high 32 ground balls, while Shuan Napolitano, Garrett Pfifer and Chris Hervada combine for 31 caused turnovers.

Vanderbeek shares face-off duties with Keegan Teluk. Vanderbeek is 33-for-69 from the circle, and Teluk has taken a team-high 117 face-offs and won 41 of them.

Noah Lode has started all 10 games for the Hawks, posting 112 saves and ranks 11^th in the nation with a .563 save percentage.

As a team the Hawks rank third in the nation in clearing percentage at .928 and ninth in turnovers per game averaging 11.20.

A LOOK AT THE HIGHLANDERS

Despite a 4-3 lead at halftime, the Highlanders lost 14-6 to Manhattan on Saturday after the Jaspers outscored the home team 11-2 in the second half. The Highlanders led in almost every category, including shots (34-32), ground balls (29-26) and face-offs (12-for-21). Colton Johnson produced a career-best three points against Manhattan on two goals and an assist, and Luke Binder grabbed a career-best four ground balls.

Aaron Forster continued his point scoring streak with his assist in the loss, but ended his goal scoring streak at 24 games. Forster is one of 28 active players producing one or more points in at least 20 consecutive games. His streak is at 25 games stemming from February of 2017.

One of the Highlanders four captains, Forster leads the team in goals, assists and points not only for the season, but in the NJIT record books. The junior has 26 goals, nine assists for 35 points on the year so far.

Cole Robillard and Ryan Darrow have 33 points between them, Robillard sits second on the team in goals with 15 goals and four assists, while junior captain Darrow has nine goals and five assists.

Out of the 14 Highlander goal scorers, 11 of them are freshman or sophomores.

Starting defenders captain John Tachon (65gb, 17ct), Matthew Valdez (22gb, 14ct) and Luke Binder (11gb, 7ct) produce more than half of the Highlanders caused turnovers.

In the Highlanders last three games, Adam Gonzalez has been 30-for-53 on the face-off circle and moved up to third all-time in face-off wins in the NJIT record books.

Marking his 12^th start in net this season against Manhattan senior captain Nick Marzullo has 123 saves on the year and a .480 save percentage.