NEWARK, N.J. — The NJIT men's lacrosse team closes out its non conference schedule on Saturday afternoon as the Highlanders face first-time opponent Lindenwood in Newark.
LAST TIME OUT
Led by a four-point performance from Jack Bowie and standout efforts by the defensive and faceoff units, NJIT picked up its first win of the season and first of the Eric Wolf era in a 10-8 victory over the Wagner Seahawks on March 4.
Bowie led all scorers with his hat trick and added an assist to finish with his four points. Also netting goals for NJIT (1-4) were Brandon Wasitowski (2 G), Gavyn Willson (1 G, 1 A), Garrett Muscatella (1 G), Teddy Grimley (1 G), Devon Ford (1 G), and Owen Corry (1 G). Logan Hone, Josh Schreibeis, Matthew Bowerman, and Owen Mercado each recorded an assist on the day.
Isaac Vanzomeren was a force on the field, setting team season-bests with seven ground balls and 11 faceoff wins (11-15) against Wagner (1-4). Josh Schreibeis' game-high four caused turnovers set a new career high and were the most by a Highlander in a single game since former Highlander John Tachon caused four at Delaware on February 15, 2020. Liam Brown moved his season run of 10+ save games to five with 12 stops in 60 minutes Saturday while allowing a season-low eight goals.
OTHER NOTES FROM LAST GAME
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The Wagner win was the program's first-ever victory when trailing after three quarters of play.
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Bowie's three-goal showing was the fourth of his career and first since he registered a hat trick last year against Binghamton on April 19, 2022. His last game with at least four points was his career best, a five-point effort (3 G, 2 A) at Binghamton on April 3, 2021.
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NJIT has had a different player score at least three goals in all five games this year: Bowie, Muscatella (Feb. 25), Corry (Feb. 21), Arthur Miller (Feb. 18) and Willson (Feb. 11)
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Owen Corry's goal in the final seconds of the game pushed his current point scoring streak to 15 games and his goal scoring run to eight games.
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Isaac Vanzomeren's seven ground balls were only two off his career high of nine from his game at UAlbany on April 24, 2021 and his 11 faceoff wins marked the seventh time he has won 10+ faceoffs in a game (the other six instances came during his freshman year in 2021).
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Grimley and Devon Ford's goals, along with Schreibeis and Mercado's assists, were the firsts of their careers.
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Saturday's victory snapped the program's 22-game losing streak, giving the Highlanders their first win since March 27, 2021 (14-10 at UMass Lowell).
HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS
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Muscatella matched his career-high with his three goals against Manhattan. The last time he produced a hat trick was at Marist on April 12, 2022.
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With his three points at Manhattan (2 G, 1 A), Owen Corry has extended his active scoring streak to 14 games (last ten of 2022, first four of 2023). The production run began at Army West Point on February 26, 2022.
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In his 40th career game across four seasons at Robert Morris and this year at NJIT, Josh Schreibeis scored his first collegiate goal at Manhattan.
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Liam Brown has made at least 10 saves in every game this season.
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Program Progress: After not scoring more than six goals and falling by an average of six goals in their first four all-time meetings against Manhattan, NJIT has worked to close the gap on their tri-state rivals, scoring seven or more goals in each of its last three meetings and trimming the game margins to an average of less than two goals (1.66).
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NJIT set new team game-highs for ground balls with 34 and caused turnovers with nine against Wagner.
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Gavyn Willson's personal consecutive goals streak came to an end at 11 games (his final nine of 2022 and the first two of 2023) against Monmouth.
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Owen Corry's hat trick was his first game of 3+ goals since he tallied three at Stony Brook on April 9, 2022.
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The 38 saves across two games Brown has made to open the season are the second-most in back-to-back games in his career (40; 19 at Delaware on 2/15/20; 21 vs Lehigh on 2/22/20).
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Liam Brown's 20-save effort in the season opener at Siena locked in his fourth straight season with at least one performance of 20 saves or more. It was also Brown's fifth career 20-save game and one shy of his career high of 21 (done once in 2020 and once last season at Marist on Apr. 12).
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Gavyn Willson's four-goal performance against Siena was the second game of his career with at least three goals. Ironically, both were in season openers (the first was his career-best five-goal effort in his collegiate debut against Hampton on Feb. 1, 2020).
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In a sign of program growth, The Siena game was the closest season-opening defeat in program history (-1). The closest game to open a campaign prior to Saturday was a five-goal loss at Lehigh on Feb. 3, 2018 (13-8). NJIT's lone season-opening victory came on Feb. 1 against Hampton (24-7 in Newark).
STOPPING THE ATTACK
Heading into Saturday, NJIT currently sits first in the America East in saves per game (15.40) and second in save percentage (.570). Liam Brown has posted two of the top five save performances of the season in the America East (20 at Siena, 18 vs Mount St. Mary's).
SHUT IT DOWN
On the same America East statsheet, NJIT leads the league in penalty killing percentage (.800)
MAN DOWN? NO PROBLEM
As of Friday, NJIT is the only team in the America East to have registered a man-down goal (Arthur Miller's second goal against Mount St. Mary's on Feb. 18).
NEW REGIME IN PLACE
Eric Wolf, an America East alumnus and coach with nearly 15 years of combined experience, was named the second-ever head coach of the NJIT Men's Lacrosse program by Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics Lenny Kaplan this summer. Wolf joined Highlander Nation after spending the last five seasons as head coach at Long Island University/LIU Post and making prior stops at Harvard, UAlbany and Siena.
In his head coaching debut, Wolf oversaw one of the more unique situations in the country as he went from leading the Division II LIU Post Pioneers for two seasons (2018-19) to overseeing the program's first three years in Division I (2020-22) after the merger of LIU's Brooklyn and Post campuses into one institution. The Sharks adjusted to Division I and the Northeast Conference well in their first two full seasons (LIU's 2020 debut campaign was cut short due to COVID-19), qualifying for the four-team NEC Tournament both years on the strength of two back-to-back NEC major award winners in Offensive Player of the Year Richie LaCalandra and Defensive Player of the Year Will Mark. During his first two years at LIU Post, Wolf posted a pair of 10-plus win campaigns and reached two East Coast Conference Championship games behind the efforts of All-Americans Connor Farrell and William Snelders.
Overall, Wolf went 35-29 (19-8 in conference play) in five seasons at LIU, including 16-21 (9-6 NEC) in three Division I seasons, 13-13 (9-6 NEC) over the last two, and 21-10 (10-2 ECC) at LIU Post.
Among his stops as an assistant were two stints at his alma mater and NJIT's current America East conference mate, UAlbany. Wolf served as UAlbany's Director of Operations in 2008 after graduating in 2007 and returned for four seasons (2012-15) as Assistant Coach, Offensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator. The Great Danes won three AE titles, won two NCAA games, and led the NCAA in scoring three times during Wolf's second run.
Wolf's staff is made up of assistants Sean Eccles and Jack Kearney, who will manage the Highlanders' respective offensive and defensive units. Both assistants has ties to current America East schools - Eccles played four seasons at UAlbany (two-year captain, two-time All-America East Second Team selection, helped UAlbany reach its first-ever Final Four in 2018) and Kearney came to NJIT from the AE's newest member Bryant (two years as a volunteer assistant and goalie coach).
2023 LEADERS
TOP RETURNERS (2022 TOTALS)
THE 2023 SCHEDULE
NJIT will play a 13-game schedule featuring six non-conference contests, seven America East games, six home matches and seven road trips.
2023 will kick off with four games in February, beginning with the season opener at Siena on Saturday, February 11. The Highlanders' home opener will be held a week later (Saturday, February 18) against Mount St. Mary's. NJIT will have a pair of two-game road trips this year, starting with back-to-back games at Monmouth (Tuesday, February 21) and Manhattan (Saturday, February 25).
March begins with the Highlanders' longest homestand of the campaign, a three-game stretch against Wagner (Saturday, March 4), Lindenwood (Saturday, March 11), and two-time defending America East champion Vermont (Saturday, March 18) in NJIT's league opener. NJIT will close out March on the road against Binghamton on Saturday, March 25.
The final month of the regular season will feature five conference matchups. The Highlanders will face America East newcomers Bryant (Saturday, April 1 at home) and Merrimack (Saturday, April 8 on the road) in back-to-back games before closing the year out at UAlbany (Saturday, April 15), against UMBC (Senior Day on Saturday, April 22) and at UMass Lowell (Saturday, April 29).
The four-team America East Men's Lacrosse Championship will be held on May 4 & 6 at the highest seed in the tournament.
OTHER SCHEDULE NOTES
- NJIT will face four first-time opponents in 2023: Bryant (newest full member of America East), Lindenwood (who is transitioning to Division I), Merrimack (AE Associate member for 2023 and 2024), and Mount St. Mary's (newest member of the MAAC).
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The Highlanders will open the season on the road for the second consecutive season.
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Two NJIT opponents - Vermont and Manhattan - made it to the 2022 NCAA Tournament and coincidentally faced each other in the opening round.
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NJIT's schedule will be much more manageable than in years past: Of the 13 opponents, only two (Vermont and UAlbany) received votes in the preseason USILA poll and only UVM received votes in the Inside Lacrosse preseason poll.
ROSTER CONSTRUCTION
Coach Wolf will go into Year 1 at NJIT with 26 veterans to call upon, ten freshmen to incorporate into his program, and one new transfer (Josh Schreibeis from Robert Morris) to work into the mix.
NOWHERE BUT UP
NJIT was voted to finish last in the eight-team America East preseason poll (Vermont was the unanimous selection to win the league).
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
NJIT and Lindenwood will be meeting for the first time as Lindenwood began their Division I transition in July 2022. The Lions are currently 1-1 on the year, falling in their season opener at Marquette on Feb. 4 before picking up their first win at LIU on Feb. 18, their last game played this season.
The Lions are led by Wesley Scurci (3 G), Cam Smith (2 G, 1 A), Joseph Sarno (12-26 FO, 4 GB), and Blake Nolan (72:33 mins, 8.27 GAA, 15 saves).
NEXT UP
NJIT opens its America East schedule on Saturday, March 18 at Noon against two-time defending America East champion Vermont in Newark.
