Big Ten Conference play is underway in men’s lacrosse. There are a lot of great matchups on the horizon and none are as important as the matchup this week between No. 7 Johns Hopkins and No. 9 Rutgers.

Johns Hopkins sits at a record of 8-3 (1-0) and Rutgers at 7-2 (0-1). The two teams will face off in Baltimore, Maryland at Homewood Field at 3 p.m. and broadcasted on ESPN U.

These two squads are super talented and a lot of their success is on the offensive side of the field.

The Blue Jays feature a lot of talented goal scorers including team captain Garrett Degnon.

Degnon is effective at creating great shot opportunities around the cage as the attackman has 25 goals so far this season. He is the team's leading goal scorer.

Degnon’s co-star on offense is attackman Jacob Angelus. Angelus is not an impressive scorer but an impressive passer. On the season, he has 28 assists.

The Scarlet Knights defense is gonna have their hands full with these two.

Another player to look out for on the Blue Jays is Russell Melendez, the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.

Melendez had a fantastic game last weekend in the win against Michigan, scoring four times and dishing three assists for a total of seven points on the day.

The goalkeeping for Johns Hopkins has been decent this season. Three goalies have seen time this year, but their usual starter is Tim Marcille.

Marcille has had a solid year to this point posting a save percentage of .530 and goals against average of 11.58.

The Scarlet Knights are an impressive team as well. They are strong all over the field, especially on offense, having three attackmen over 20 goals.

The team leader in goals is attackman Dante Kulas. Kulas has scored 23 goals so far this season.

His two teammates having incredible seasons as well are team captain Ross Scott and Brian Cameron. Posting 22 and 20 goals respectively.

These three are going to give the Johns Hopkins defense a lot of trouble on Saturday with their ability to share the ball and play well with each other.

Rutgers is also very talented at the midfield position. The Scarlet Knights have a lot of great offensive and defensive midfielders that they run out of the box throughout the game.

One of the most outstanding for the Scarlet Knights is swiss army knife Shane Knobloch. Knobloch has scored 10 goals, has 13 assists and picked up 12 ground balls.

Rutgers has been very stable with their goal keeping situation. The same goalie, Kyle Mullin has been in net all season, starting nine times for the Scarlet Knights. Mullin has posted an impressive 9.45 goals against average and has a save percentage of .541.

The Scarlet Knights will lean on Mullin in order to get back on the winning path this week after a 11-7 loss against Ohio State last weekend.

Ethan Bell is a sophomore majoring in public relations. To contact him, email epb5391@psu.edu.