Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

One year after losing in the Big Ten Tournament championship game and then getting snubbed from the NCAA Tournament, the Rutgers men's lacrosse team appears motivated to avenge both disappointments.

For the second straight season, the Scarlet Knights have started off 5-0. But unlike a year ago when coach Brian Brecht’s squad caught everyone by surprise, the Scarlet Knights are suddenly considered among the nation’s elite teams.

"We're undefeated right now and that's huge for us,'' freshman attack Kieran Mullins said following the Scarlet Knights' 13-11 win over No. 19 Brown on Saturday, via RVision.

Here’s what you need to know about the No. 8-ranked Scarlet Knights:

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Photo by Noah K. Murray | Rutgers Athletics

What injuries?

Rutgers entered the season ranked No. 16 in the USILA/NIKE Coaches Preseason Poll. But it dropped two spots in the rankings before it even played a game this season.

That’s because the Scarlet Knights had key players — 2016 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Adam Charalambides and three-year starter Christian Trasolini — suffer season-ending injuries in the preseason.

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Still, Brecht refused to use the injuries as an excuse, telling NJ Advance Media following the season-opening win over Army: “All the standards and the expectations and the goals that we had in after last year's success stay the same. We just have to do things a little differently. But we have enough pieces.''

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#RUMLax jumps six spots to No. 8 in the Media Poll! Friday's opponent Stony Brook is #14 Coaches Poll (previously #10) comes out later today pic.twitter.com/nC7CWtwmN9 — Rutgers Men's LAX (@RUmlax) March 6, 2017

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That feeling when @RUmlax is 5-0 and ranked No. 8 in the media poll! pic.twitter.com/91Oia3yF5H — RVision (@RVisionRU) March 6, 2017

Impressive start

Rutgers is 5-0 for the second straight season, but just the second time since 2003, when the team started 7-0 en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance.

The No. 8 ranking is the highest since the 2004 team was ranked as high as No. 4 nationally.

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Photo by Noah K. Murray | Rutgers Athletics

National Player of the Year candidate

After earning All-Big Ten honors last season, Jules Heningburg has picked up where he left off.

The junior attack from Maplewood has scored 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) through five games. For his efforts, Heningburg was recently named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List.

The award honors the nation’s top college lacrosse player in the country, and he follows Scott Bieda and Joe Nardella as the third Scarlet Knight in as many years to make the list.

In his 36-game career, Heningburg has 69 goals and 35 assists for a total of 104 points.

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Here's how Rutgers' Jules Heningburg has turned into Big Ten's top goal scorer

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RVision1766 | YouTube.com

Balanced scoring

Thirteen different Scarlet Knights have netted at least one goal through the 5-0 start.

While Mullins and Heningburg share the team-high honor with nine goals apiece, Connor Murphy (8 goals), Jeff George (7), Casey Rose (6), Christian Mazzone (6), Christian Scarpello (6) and Chad Toliver (4) have each contributed to a Rutgers team that has averaged 12.2 goals per game.

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Photo by Noah K. Murray | Rutgers Athletics

Defensive minded

Rutgers ranks tied for eighth nationally in scoring defense, yielding just 7.4 goals-per-game through its unblemished start.

In addition, Rutgers ranks second nationally in caused turnovers per game (10.8) and fifth in ground balls (35 per game).

Joe Francisco leads the team with 30 ground balls, while Michael Rexrode paces the squad with 10 caused turnovers.

On Saturday, the Scarlet Knights held a Brown team that entered as the nation's top-scoring offense to just 11 scores thanks to a defense that combined for 50 ground balls and 22 forced turnovers.

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#RUMLax No. 2 in NCAA in caused turnovers (10.8/game).

M. Rexrode: #1 in B1G (2/G)

A. Bronzo: #2 in B1G (1.5/G)

K. Pless: #3 in B1G (1.4/G) pic.twitter.com/eN3Hski7H6 — Rutgers Men's LAX (@RUmlax) March 6, 2017

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Starring in net

Rutgers lost a standout goalkeeper in Kris Alleyne, who finished his career with the fifth-most saves (545) in Rutgers history and produced a 10.4 goals-against-average in 49 career starts.

But junior goalkeeper Max Edelmann has been even better this season, ranking eighth nationally with a 7.32 goals-against-average in five starts.

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RVision1766 | YouTube.com

Landmark season

The Scarlet Knights are celebrating their 100th men’s lacrosse season, and Saturday's triumph over Brown marked the program’s 600th win. Rutgers is the 12th Division I team to reach that milestone.

While Rutgers played its first lacrosse season in 1887, the program went three decades before reorganizing a team in 1920. The program's all-time record is 600-500-14.

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Rutgers 2017 preview

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Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Home sweet home

The Scarlet Knights have won 11 straight at High Point Solutions Stadium dating to a 17-10 win over then-No. 10-ranked Ohio State in 2015.

Rutgers, which is 3-0 at home this season, will look to extend that mark over the next two weeks with games against Stony Brook (Friday) and Princeton (March 14).

Their Big Ten home games this season include Maryland (April 16) and Ohio State (April 29).

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Up next

It won’t get any easier for the Scarlet Knights, who will host No. 14 Stony Brook (4-0) on Friday at 6 p.m.

The Seawolves handed the Scarlet Knights their first loss (15-6) last season after a 5-0 start.

Since last season, Rutgers has won four of its past six matchups against ranked foes.

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Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.