WHERE: @ Army
WHEN: Tuesday March, 4 @ 12:00
Rutgers got their season off to a strong start by blowing out their first two opponents. However, now they find themselves on a two-game losing streak heading into West Point on Tuesday night. While heading to West Point is tough enough, they will be facing an Army team that is on a three game winning streak after losing their season opener 6-5 to UMass. In a battle to see who has the better knights, will Rutgers be able to get back on the winning track or will Army extend Rutger’s losing streak?
Quick side note, shouldn’t Army and Rutgers make this an annual contest where they play for some trophy that is colored half black and half red and create a rivalry and a cute nickname to go along with it like in college football?
Rutgers Offense vs. Army Defense
Edge: Rutgers
Statistically, this matchup would look to be a push and a classic offense vs defense matchup. Rutgers boasts the nation’s the 10th best offense in the nation scoring 13.5 goals per game. Meanwhile, Army only allows five goals per game, good for second in the nation. Seems like a stalemate, right? Wrong. Rutgers has scored on bad opponents (Manhattan and Wagner) and good ones (Stony Brook and Virginia).
Meanwhile, outside of their opener against UMass, the Black Knights have faced some of the lesser Division 1 programs in the nation and thus, taken advantage of their better talent. During their three game winning streak, they have allowed six goals to VMI, two to Furman, a first-year program and six this past weekend to Lafayette.
Don’t get me wrong, Army will bring the lunch pail on Tuesday night but they haven’t faced an offense like the one Rutgers boasts. Just one last note, Furman, Lafayette and VMI don’t rank in the Top 50 offenses in the nation and UMass ranks 28th.
Rutgers Defense vs. Army Offense
Edge: Army
Rutgers defense has been suspect at the very best against better competition. It should come as no surprise that they dominated the likes of Manhattan and Wagner because, well, they are Manhattan and Wagner. However, once they faced offenses like Virginia and Stony Brook, they allowed 19 and 12 goals respectively. Yikes.
While Army doesn’t boast the offense that those two teams featured, they will likely be a happy medium between Stony Brook and whatever a step or two above Wagner’s offense would be. Rutgers will have to figure out how to contain John Glesener, Will Mazzone and Connor Cook. Those three boast a strong attack line for the Black Knights and should pose a large task for the Scarlet Knights close defense.
Scarlet Knights goalie Kris Alleyne will also look to rebound in what was a poor performance against Stony Brook. He only saved nine of the 21 shots he saw after posting strong performances in his first three games.
Face offs
Edge: Rutgers
Not even a question here. Joseph Nardella is killing it at the face off X. While it is early, he is winning a god-like 85.2 percent of his face offs this season. By the way that’s 46-of-54 face offs, not a low number.
Army’s Alex Daly and his 57 percent face off percentage will give it a good shot Tuesday night but it will be to no avail. Expect Army to go double dragons (two poles on the face off wings) or a pole at the face off X to try and slow down Nardella.
Prediction
It will definitely be a great game on Tuesday night. It pits one of the nation’s best offenses versus one of the nation’s best defenses. Personally, my heart says Rutgers by a nose but I like Army’s grit and physicality on the defensive end. Plus, I don’t trust Rutgers’ defense which seems like it couldn’t stop a nosebleed right now. In the battle to see who is the better colored knight, give me Army in a close one.
Rutgers 8, Army 9
