NEWARK, N.J. — The NJIT men's lacrosse team will host its penultimate home game of the season on Saturday afternoon against the Bryant Bulldogs.
LAST TIME OUT
NJIT erased an eight-goal first half deficit to tie its road game at BInghamton in the fourth quarter and nearly completed the comeback before falling 17-16 on March 25.
The Highlanders gave up the first six goals of the game and saw Binghamton take a 9-1 lead in the second quarter but NJIT would more than double up the Bearcats (15-7 from 14:21 in the second to 4:08 in the fourth) to tie the game at 16-16 before ultimately conceding the game-winning score.
Owen Corry tied this year's single game high with a team-best and career-high four goals while Jack Bowie matched the Highlanders' single-game points mark this year with five (2 G, 3 A). Logan Hone (2 G, 1 A), Garrett Muscatella (2 G, 1 A), Gavyn Willson (1 G, 2 A), and Brandon Wasitowski (1 G, 3 A) joined Bowie as Highlanders with at least one goal and one assist, while Darren Romaine (2 G), Isaac Vanzomeren, Josh Failla (1 G each) added goals and Josh Schreibeis added an assist.
Billy Kroeger and Isaac Vanzomeren were strong as a tandem, combining for 12 of NJIT's 27 ground balls (Kroeger a team season-high seven, Vanzomeren five) and 20 faceoff wins (another single-game best for the Highlanders). NJIT caused a season-high 11 turnovers, led by Beck Gozdenovich's three and two each by Muscatella and Teddy Grimley.
Liam Brown kept his season-long double-digit save streak intact, stopping 11 shots on the day in 60 minutes.
OTHER NOTES FROM LAST GAME
- Corry's four-score game is the third game of his career with at least four goals and his fifth hat trick as a Highlander.
- Corry's active point streak has now reached 18 games (26 G, 15 A during that streak). The production run began last season at Army West Point on February 26, 2022.
- NJIT's 16 goals are a season high and the most the program has posted since the 2020 season opener (24 against Hampton).
- The team also posted season bests in assists (11), shots on goal (33), faceoff wins (20), and points (27).
- Despite the loss, the Highlanders are now 2-2 on the year in games decided by two or fewer goals. By contrast, the program went 0-19 in similar games from 2015-22.
HIGHLANDER SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
- NJIT's one-goal victory over Lindenwood on March 11 was its closest margin of victory in program history. Paired with the two-goal triumph over Wagner on March 4 (which gave the Highlanders their first-ever winning streak), NJIT won its two closest games in its nine-year history in back-to-back weeks.
ALL TIME WINS & MARGINS OF VICTORY
- Mar. 11, 2023: 14-13 vs Lindenwood (+1)
- Mar. 4, 2023: 10-8 vs Wagner (+2)
- Mar. 22, 2016: 10-7 at Dartmouth (+3)
- Mar. 5, 2019: 8-5 vs Monmouth (+3)
- Mar. 27, 2021: 14-10 at UMass Lowell (+4)
- Apr. 14, 2018: 15-8 vs Hampton (+7)
- Apr. 15, 2017: 17-3 at Hampton (+14)
- Feb. 1. 2020: 24-7 vs Hampton (+17)
- Apr. 6, 2019: 26-9 at Hampton (+17)
- Garrett Muscatella's career-high four goals against Lindenwood matched Willson for the team season-best in a game (4; matched by Jack Bowie against UVM) and his career-best five points matched Hone's five for the season high.
- Hone's last hat trick came on Mar. 27, 2021 in the win at UMass Lowell while his last five-point outing came on Apr. 9, 2022 at Stony Brook (2 G, 3 A).
- Jack Bowie now has six career games with at least three goals - including three straight this year.
- The Lindenwood win was the third ever for NJIT at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium. The first was NJIT's season-opening win against Hampton on Feb. 1, 2020 and the second was Mar. 4 against Wagner.
- The Wagner win was the program's first-ever victory when trailing after three quarters of play. The Lindenwood win was the program's second.
- NJIT had at least one player score three or more goals in every game this year: Bowie (Mar. 4, 11, 18), Muscatella (Feb. 25, Mar. 11), Corry (Feb. 21, Mar. 25), Arthur Miller (Feb. 18), Logan Hone (Mar. 11) and Willson (Feb. 11). The Lindenwood game was the first game of the year where multiple players had at least three goals (Muscatella, 4; Hone, 3; Bowie, 3).
- Isaac Vanzomeren's seven ground balls against Wagner 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).
- Grimley and Devon Ford's goals, along with Schreibeis and Mercado's assists, against Wagner were the firsts of their careers.
- The Wagner win snapped the program's 22-game losing streak, giving the Highlanders their first win since March 27, 2021 (14-10 at UMass Lowell).
- 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. He added his first-ever assist in his 41st career game against Wagner.
- Liam Brown has made at least 10 saves in every game this season.
- NJIT set new team game-highs for ground balls with 34 and caused turnovers with nine against Wagner. The caused turnover number was eclipsed against Lindenwood (10).
- 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.
- Owen Corry's hat trick at Monmouth was his first game of 3+ goals since he tallied three at Stony Brook on April 9, 2022.
- The 38 saves across two games (at Siena, vs Mount St. Mary's) Liam Brown 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).
- 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).
- Gavyn Willson's four-goal performance against Siena was the second game of his career with at least four 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).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Garrett Muscatella was named America East Men's Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week by the conference on March 13. The Long Valley native put up career highs in goals (4) and points (5) to help lead NJIT to a thrilling 14-13 victory over Lindenwood on March 18. The win gave the Highlanders, in only their ninth year of existence as a program, its first-ever winning streak after its triumph over Wagner on March 4.
The America East weekly honor - the first career award for Muscatella - is: the third all-time for the Highlanders since joining the league before the 2021 campaign; the second Offensive weekly award all-time (teammate Owen Corry won the first on Mar. 29, 2021); and the first award since former Highlander Gage Adams was named Rookie of the Week on Feb. 14, 2022.
STOPPING THE ATTACK
Heading into Saturday, NJIT and keeper Liam Brown currently sit first in the America East in saves per game (14.88; 2nd nationally), total saves (119), and minutes (480:00) and fifth in save percentage (.534). Brown has posted three of the top seven save performances of the season in the America East (20 at Siena, 18 vs Mount St. Mary's and Lindenwood).
SHUT IT DOWN OR TAKE ADVANTAGE
On the same America East statsheet, NJIT is near the top of the league in penalty killing percentage (.686; 1st), and total man-up goals (14, 1.75/game; 2nd).
MAN DOWN? NO PROBLEM
As of this week, NJIT is one of only three teams 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).
- The Highlanders will open the season on the road for the second consecutive season.
- Two NJIT opponents - Vermont and Manhattan - made it to the 2022 NCAA Tournament and coincidentally faced each other in the opening round.
- 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 Bryant will be meeting for the first time ever on Saturday. This inaugural meeting was delayed 1,071 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic - the two teams were scheduled to play in the 2020 season finale as members of the Northeast Conference (NJIT was set to play its first-ever conference season in the NEC as an affiliate that year) but never did after all of its conference games were canceled. Bryant officially joined the America East on July 1, 2022.
The Bulldogs, who are receiving votes in both the InsideLacrosse and USILA polls, are led by Johnny Hackett (25 G, 8 A), Kevin Groeninger (16 G, 16 A), Nathan Laliberte (51 GB, 3 G, 4 A, 84 FO wins) and Teagan Alexander (465:20 mins, 11.99 GAA, 82 saves).
NEXT UP
NJIT will take on Merrimack College on Saturday, April 8 in North Andover, MA at 3 p.m.
