PISCATAWAY, N.J. – After a pair of mixed results to open up the season, Villanova men's lacrosse (1-1) renews an old BIG EAST rivalry this weekend as the 'Cats head up to SHI Stadium in North Jersey for a Saturday afternoon matchup at No. 18/19 Rutgers.

A SETBACK AGAINST SAINT JOSEPH'S    
Following up the big time upset of No. 7 Penn State to kick off the year, the 'Cats dropped a hard fought battle against Big 5 foe St. Joe's on Saturday afternoon. The Hawks led 8-1 after the first period and both a 5-0 second and fourth quarter comeback from Villanova weren't enough to advance to 2-0 and keep the Wildcats in the rankings. Luke Raymond scored four goals and Nick Lucchesi totaled three points, Denis Fargione made 10 saves between the pipes and Ryan Cunningham scooped up six GBs.

MONEY IN THE MIDFIELD    
Villanova's offensive headliner is the big-bodied lefty attackman Colin Michener and Raymond has put up numbers through two games after bumping down to attack for his graduate year, but important offensive contributions have come out of the box for the Wildcats. Lucchesi has been dynamite with two multi-point outings while fellow midfield starters Lucas Newton (a point in each game) and freshman Kessy Cox (two goals against No. 7 Penn State) have produced as well for new OC Paul Mita. Fifth-year Dan Martin put home the overtime game-winner as part of a two-goal effort at PSU and Gavin Michener has scored a goal in each outing, giving the 'Cats a number of viable options up top in addition to the attack production.

SHIPPING UP TO SHI STADIUM        
It's time for the renewal of a Mid-Atlantic rivalry this weekend in Piscataway as Villanova heads up to North Jersey for a 1 p.m. battle at Rutgers. These squads haven't met since 2014 despite six straight meetings from 2009-14, all of which were won by head coach Mike Corrado and the 'Cats. Corrado is 6-0 against the Scarlet Knights at the helm of his alma mater, though six RU wins from 1992-97 mean it's all even at 6-6 in the all-time series. This year's Rutgers team pulls in at the edge of all three major Top 20 polls, and Villanova is the top vote receiver in two of those so it's bound to be an interesting one at SHI Stadium on Saturday.

READ ABOUT RUTGERS

• The Scarlet Knights are 2-1 to open up the year, taking down Jacksonville in overtime during week zero and Stony Brook last Saturday while falling to No. 12 Army.
• RU is led statistically by Colin Kurdyla's 11 goals while netminder Cardin Stoller, a member of the Tewaaraton Award watch list, has three straight games with double digit saves.
• In addition to Kurdyla and Stoller, Rutgers has two Preseason All-Americans in LSM Ryan Splaine and SSDM Joe Juengerkes. This week marks a string of three home games in eight days for the Scarlet Knights.

The bout will stream live on Big Ten Plus while statistics for the contest are available on StatBroadcast.