Black Knights Edged In Top-10 Battle At Rutgers

Saturday, February 19

Piscataway, NJ

1:00 PM

Army West Point

1-1

Rutgers University

4-0

ARMY

Black Knights Edged In Top-10 Battle At Rutgers

February 19, 2022 | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Game 2
SCORE	No. 6 Rutgers Scarlett Knights 13, No. 10 Army Black Knights 10
RECORDS	Rutgers (4-0) \| Army (1-1)
LEADING SCORERS	Rutgers – Ronan Jacoby (6) \| Army – Paul Johnson/Brendan Nichtern (5)
LOCATION	SHI Stadium

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The tenth-ranked Army Black Knights rallied from a six-goal deficit to the tie the game in the third quarter before eventually falling to the sixth-ranked Rutgers Scarlett Knights, 13-10, on Saturday.

GAME SUMMARY
The Black Knights trailed 7-1 before scoring seven of the next eight goals to tie the game at 8-8 with nine minutes left in the third quarter. However, Rutgers outscored Army, 5-2, to pull out the win.
Army trailed 5-1 after the first quarter. Bo Waters scored Army's first goal at the 10-minute mark to tie the score at 1-1, but the Scarlett Knights added four straight goals to close out the quarter and then added to their lead early in the second quarter for a 7-1 lead.

The Black Knights, however, got back in the game with four straight goals beginning with Gunner Philipp at the 9:32 mark. Brendan Nichtern followed 30 seconds later with his first of the game. Aidan Byrnes and Waters scored Army's fourth and fifth goals, respectively, with the Black Knights down by two at halftime.

After Rutgers scored the first goal of the third quarter, the Black Knights netted three straight goals to tie the contest at 8-8. Nichtern added his second goal of the game with 13 minutes left in the quarter. Three minutes later, Paul Johnson scored the first of his back-to-back goals with Nichtern providing the assist on the second goal, to tie the game at 8-8 with nine minutes remaining in the quarter. However, Rutgers netted four straight goals, including the final three goals in the third quarter, to build a 12-8 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Bobby Abshire scored Army's first goal of the fourth quarter with eight minutes but the Black Knights were only to score one more goal, Paul Johnson's third of the game with 28 seconds left.

CADET CAPSULES

Brendan Nichtern had a game-high three assists while adding two goals for a five-point day.
Paul Johnson scored a game-high three goals and finished with two assists for five points which are all career-best.
Bo Waters netted a career-high two goals.
Will Coletti won a team-best 10 faceoffs and had a team-high five ground balls.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Brendan Nichtern moved into a tie with Jeff Bryan '04 for third on the all-time assists list with 114 and is tied with Connor Cook '16 on the all-time goals list with 82.
Army outshot Rutgers, 48-46, and 25-22 on shots on goal.
Army was 1-for-2 on extra man opportunities.
The Black Knigths were 15-for-16 on clears.

COACH'S CORNER
"Congratulations to Rutgers. It was a hard fought game between two top teams in the country. I am proud of how our men and battled after going down 7-1 to tie it at 8-8 in the third. No moral victories in this program but there was a lot of positive we can build upon. We need to quickly move on from this to get ready for a mid week game." – Joe Alberici

UP NEXT

Army returns to Michie Stadium for a two-game homestand next week, beginning on Wednesday, February 23 against the Siena Saints at 3 p.m.
Coverage will be provided by ESPN+
Admission is free.

For complete coverage of Army West Point men's lacrosse follow the Black Knights on Twitter, Instagram, and at www.goarmywestpoint.com.