No. 7 Men's Lacrosse Hosts No. 19 Rutgers in Regular Season Finale

HISTORY

• Rutgers owns the all-time series 47-27, a matchup that dates back to 1946.
• Penn State owns the most recent three wins. PSU defeated the Scarlet Knights twice in 2024 in the regular season and in the quarterfinals in the Big Ten Tournament.
• Rutgers is Penn State’s most played opponent, meeting 74 times over the course of both programs’ history.

SCOUTING RUTGERS

• Rutgers is 6-7, 2-2 Big Ten this season with a signature win over no. 1 at the time Maryland.
• The Scarlet Knights have the second-best scoring defense in the conference and eighth-best in the nation, holding opponents to just 8.54 goals per game.
• Cardin Stoller owns the most saves per game in the Big Ten (12.00) and ranks third in save percentage (.591).
• Matthew Paolatto has the second-best faceoff winning percentage in the B1G at .606, good for 10th in the country.
• JJ Aiello was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice this season (2/4 and 2/25). Haydn Sommer owns one Big Ten Freshman of the Week nod (3/25).
• After defeating no. 1 Maryland, Ryan Splaine was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, Collin Zeller was named the Freshman of the Week and Cardin Stoller was named the Specialist of the Week.
• Stoller is a Tewaaraton Award Watch List member and was named the National Player of the Week (4/8)
• Joe Juengerkesm Matthew Paolatto and Cardin Stoller were all named Midseason All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse.

LAST TIME VS. RUTGERS

• PSU defeated the Scarlet Knights 14-8 in the conference tournament quarterfinals at Panzer. 
• TJ Malone posted four goals and Ethan Long had three in the outing.
• Jack Fracyon made 18 saves for a .692 save percentage.

LAST TIME OUT

• Penn State earned a convincing 10-4 win over Johns Hopkins on Saturday, April 12 on Alumni Day.
• Matt Traynor paced the Nittany Lions offense, scoring 70% of the goals to match his career high at seven. He also added an assist to match a career best eight points, both new Big Ten bests. He also collected four ground balls. Traynor was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, TLN Player of the Week, Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week and was named to the USILA Team of the Week.
• Hunter Aquino, Luke Walstrum and Jack AImone were responsible for the other three goals.
• Jack Fracyon was dominant between the pipes, making eight saves while only allowing four goals. He also caused one turnover and scooped five ground balls.
• Colby Baldwin led the Nittany Lions at the faceoff x winning 9-16 attempts with Reid Gills winning his one attempt.
• PSU dominated the ground ball game, collecting 34 with Fracyon and Baldwin leading the way with five each.

LIONS IN THE RANKS

• Matt Traynor sits at the top of the B1G in points per game (4.78) and in goals per game (3.22).
• Kevin Parnham ranks 14th across the nation in caused turnovers per game (1.91) which is second in the Big Ten.
• Colby Baldwin has the 16th-best face-off winning percentage (.587) in the country, leading his team to the 10th-best faceoff win percentage. He is 21st in ground balls per game (5.82).
• Traynor is second in the Big Ten in assists per game (1.56) and Hunter Aquino is third (1.45).
• As a team, PSU leads the conference in several categories including points per game (21.00), man-up offense (.429), assists per game (8.27) and faceoff winning percentage (.584).
• The Nittany Lions have the second-best scoring margin in the B1G (3.73) and second-highest scoring offense (12.73).

B1G HONORS

• Jack Fracyon was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week following a strong performance against Villanova. He tallied 10 saves on 15 shot attempts. He also allowed just five goals, the third lowest number of goals allowed in his career.
• Hunter Aquino earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week after his first career hat-trick and two assists to total five points against no. 8 Princeton.
• Hunter Aquino notched his second Big Ten weekly honor, being tabbed the Big Ten Freshman of the Week this week (3/4) after a seven-point (two goals, five assists) performance against Yale.
• Colby Balwin was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week this week (3/4) following a dominant 17-of-26 performance at the face-off x against Yale while adding a goal and an assist.
• Aquino earned his fourth Big Ten Freshman of the Week nod (4/1) after posting two goals on two shots at no. 2 Maryland. He has garnered the most weekly awards of any player in the conference and is one award shy of matching the PSU program record for B1G Freshman of the Week nods set by Mac O’Keefe in 2017.
• Matt Traynor earned his first conference nod of the season and third of his career after posting seven goals and an assist against no. 19 Johns Hopkins.
• Hunter Aquino was tabbed the Big Ten Freshman of the Week after one goal, one caused turnover and two ground balls against JHOP. With this fifth award, he ties the program record for most Big Ten Freshman of the Week nods previously set by Mac O’Keefe.