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MLAX Gameday MSM 2/18/24

Men's Lacrosse Looks For 3-0 Start This Weekend Against Mount St. Mary's

2/14/2024 4:09:00 PM

Game 3 | Away Game 2  at Mount St. Mary's (0-2)
Date | Time Sunday, February 18 | 1:00 pm
Location | Arena Emmitsburg, Md. | Waldron Family Stadium 
Live Video Mount All-Access
Live Stats In-Game Statistics
All-Time Series MSM leads 1-0
NJIT Info 2024 Stats
Opponent Info 2024 Stats 

NEWARK, N.J. — NJIT men's lacrosse will look to continue its undefeated start to 2024 on Sunday as the Highlanders hit the road for a showdown with the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers.

LAST TIME OUT
NJIT (2-0) rallied from as many as four goals down in both the first and second half to earn a 16-15 overtime victory over the Siena Saints at home on February 10. The win gave NJIT its first 2-0 start to a season in school history.

Garrett Muscatella set a new career high with five goals while Jesse Roth (3 G, 2 A), Owen Corry (2 G, 3 A) and Arthur Miller (3 G, 2 A) joined Muscatella with five points on the afternoon. Beck Gozdenovich and Michael Rettberg added one goal each, Teddy Grimley contributed an assist, and Jack Bowie assisted on two goals while scoring the overtime game-winner.

Billy Kroeger went 22-32 from the faceoff spot while also setting a program single-game record with 17 ground balls, besting the previous program mark of 13 from the inaugural 2015 season by former Highlander Zachary Melillo against UMass Lowell (Mar. 7). Kroeger also set a school record for faceoffs won in a game, besting the old mark of 20 that he tied at Delaware on Feb. 5, 2022.

Hank Bethel also matched a program mark with four caused turnovers, last achieved by Josh Schreibeis vs Wagner on March 04, 2023. He was one of nine Highlanders to record a CTO and one of three (Teddy Grimley with three, Josh Failla with two) with multiple CTOs. 

Liam Brown made 17 saves in the game, moving his career total to 587 and becoming the Highlanders' all-time leader in saves.

AWARDS SEASON
NJIT has already racked up a number of awards, recognizing the efforts of the players in creating this historic start to the year. Since the season opener, NJIT has earned the following accolades:
  • Garrett Muscatella - America East Offensive Player of the Week (February 12)
  • Hank Bethel - USILA Team of the Week (February 6)
  • Liam Brown - USILA Team of the Week (February 6)
  • Liam Brown - America East Defensive Player of the Week (February 5)
  • Arthur Miller - America East Offensive Player of the Week (February 5)
CAREER DAYS OUT THE GATE
Muscatella's five-goal effort against Siena surpassed his previous high of four goals from last season against UAlbany on April 15, 2023. He has increased his career best in single-game goals each year - 2 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 4 in 2023 and now 5 in 2024.

Muscatella also matched Arthur Miller for the team high after Miller's career-high five goal output from the opener at St. John's. Including his three goals against Siena, Miller now have four career games with at least three goals. Miller's five-goal performance was also the first five-goal outing by a Highlander since Owen Corry's five goal showing at UMass Lowell on March 27, 2021 - and now the Highlanders have two in back-to-back weeks.

As of February 14, Muscatella and Miller are the only America East players with five goals in a game this season.

STEADY AS ALWAYS
Liam Brown's play continues to be a constant area of strength for the Highlanders. Brown became the NJIT all-time leader in saves after making 17 against Siena and ending the day with 587, surpassing former Highlander Nick Marzullo's 579 from 2015-18.

Brown has also made double digit saves in his last 15 games dating back to last season.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT
In just his second game as a Highlander after starting his career at Bellarmine, Jesse Roth (3 G, 2 A vs Siena) recorded his first multi-game game since his penultimate contest at Bellarmine on May 2, 2023 against Mercer (2 G) and his first hat trick game since April 22, 2023 (Bellarmine at Detroit Mercy).

SHOOTOUTS WELCOME
The 31 combined goals in the Siena game (16-15) are tied for the second-most in an NJIT win. The Highlanders' 26-9 win at Hampton (Apr. 6, 2019) holds the combined (35) and NJIT single game records, while the 24-7 win over Hampton (Feb. 1, 2020) is second with today's combined performance.

EXTRA LAX IS GOOD
After outlasting Siena, NJIT is now 2-2 all-time in overtime games after winning their last two over the last two seasons (2023 season finale at UMass Lowell on Apr. 29 and Siena on Feb. 10 this year).

THREE'S COMPANY
Dating back to the season finale win at UMass Lowell in 2023, NJIT has now won three straight games as a program for the first time ever.

(RE)WRITING TEN SEASONS OF HISTORY
The Siena win was NJIT's 12th in program history:
  1. Feb. 10, 2024: 16-15 (OT) vs Siena %
  2. Feb. 3, 2024: 10-8 at St. John's 
  3. Apr. 29, 2023: 11-10 (OT) at UMass Lowell %
  4. Mar. 11, 2023: 14-13 vs Lindenwood %
  5. Mar. 4, 2023: 10-8 vs Wagner %
  6. Mar. 27, 2021: 14-10 at UMass Lowell
  7. Feb. 1. 2020: 24-7 vs Hampton
  8. Apr. 6, 2019: 26-9 at Hampton 
  9. Mar. 5, 2019: 8-5 vs Monmouth 
  10. Apr. 14, 2018: 15-8 vs Hampton
  11. Apr. 15, 2017: 17-3 at Hampton 
  12. Mar. 22, 2016: 10-7 at Dartmouth 
WINS BREAKDOWN
  • 6 at home, 6 on the road
  • 2 overtime wins
  • Last 5 wins have been within two goals
  • 4 wins after trailing after 3 qts (%)
  • Average GS-GA in wins: 14.58 - 8.58
2024 STATS LEADERS  TOP RETURNERS (2023 TOTALS) 2024 SCHEDULE
This season will be made up of a 14-game slate: eight home and six road games; seven non-conference and seven America East league matchups.

NJIT will open play on the road on Saturday, February 3 against St. John's, marking the first time the Highlanders have faced off against a member of the Big East since hosting Georgetown on April 20, 2019. 

The 2024 home opener for the Highlanders will come the following week (February 10) against Siena. Another road matchup at Mount St. Mary's on February 17 will precede NJIT's lone two-game week at home - a Wednesday night meeting against Monmouth on February 21 and a Saturday matinee against Manhattan on February 24.

March begins with the first of NJIT's final two non-conference games, a road trip to Staten Island to face Wagner on March 2. The non-conference finale will pit NJIT against Lindenwood on March 9. NJIT won a last second thriller against the Lions in their first-ever meeting last season. 

NJIT opens America East play away from Newark with a trip to last year's regular season champion Vermont on March 16. The Highlanders will welcome Binghamton to Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium for the conference home opener the next week (March 23) before another road contest against defending tournament champion Bryant on March 30.

The final two-game homestand for the Highlanders will see them take on Merrimack (April 6) and UAlbany (April 13). NJIT will close out the regular season at UMBC on April 20 and at home against UMass Lowell on April 27. 

NJIT will be looking for its first-ever America East tournament berth in 2024. The four-team playoff will take place on the campus of the No. 1 seed on May 2 and May 4.

AE PRESEASON POLL
In this year's America East Preseason Poll, the Highlanders were slated by the league's coaches to finish tied for sixth with Merrimack - an improvement from being chosen last in the 2023 poll. Bryant, last year's tournament champion, was voted as the regular season favorite.

1. Bryant 47 (5)
2. Vermont 39 (1)
3. UAlbany 38 (2)
4. Binghamton 33
5. UMBC 28
T6. NJIT 16
T6. Merrimack 16
8. UMass Lowell 7

2023 HIGHLIGHTS SCOUTING THE OPPONENT | STATS
Mount St. Mary's enters Sunday's matchup winless at 0-2 after road losses at Navy and Towson. The Highlanders and Mountaineers have faced each other once previously - last season, when MSM defeated NJIT, 13-10 on Feb. 18, 2023.

NEXT UP
NJIT will kick off a two-game home stretch with its only mid-week game of the season, a meeting with in-state rival Monmouth on Wednesday, February 21 at 7 p.m.



 
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