Rutgers men's lacrosse

Rutgers' Jules Heningburg is one of the leaders on the undefeated Rutgers men's lacrosse team.

(Noah K. Murray | Rutgers Athletics)

Two years ago, the Rutgers men's lacrosse team finished 5-10. Half of those losses were to ranked opponents.

"I am proud of how this group competed and fought ... against top-10 and top-20 programs,'' Rutgers coach Brian Brecht said at the end of the '15 season.

Monday, his Rutgers men's lacrosse team ranks No. 1 in the country.

Thanks to its best start in six decades, Rutgers stands atop the Inside Lacrosse Media poll. The Scarlet Knights' 8-0 record is the best to open a season since 1955.

"It's nice to be the hunter,'' Brecht said. "It's a different position to be hunted. It's a great accomplishment for them, first and foremost. It's great for our institution and all of our alumni that have been playing lacrosse here for 100 seasons.''

Brecht's squad climbed two spots in the USILA/Nike Coaches poll, moving to No. 3 behind top-ranked Penn State and Notre Dame. The Scarlet Knights were ranked No. 5 in the sport's authoritative poll and their media-poll standing mirrored that last week.

"I don't think (the No. 1 ranking) changes who we are and our approach during the week to game day,'' Brecht said. "(The players) certainly did a good job to put themselves in this situation in the first half of the season. We certainly have a lot lacrosse left, and I do like the way this group prepares for game day during the week and responds to challenges, and this is just another challenge that this team is going to have to be able to understand and obviously conquer.''

The Scarlet Knights remained unblemished through the first six weeks of the season thanks to a 10-6 road triumph over NJIT on Saturday. A pair of underclassmen -- freshman Kieran Mullins and redshirt sophomore Casey Rose -- registered hat tricks with three goals apiece as Rutgers won its penultimate non-conference game leading into Big Ten play.

"It's exciting, but it's also humbling sometimes to know that we've had a good start and it's a great place to be right now for Rutgers and all of our players,'' Brecht said. "But the work is not done, and we've got a lot of lacrosse left ahead of us.''

The Scarlet Knights return to action Saturday with a game at Delaware, then begin Big Ten play against perennial national power Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md., on March 31.

The Scarlet Knights defeated Johns Hopkins twice last season, including a 14-12 triumph in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.

Currently, Rutgers is one of three Big Ten teams with an unblemished record. No. 4 Ohio State stands at 9-0, while No. 3 Penn State is 8-0.

The Scarlet Knights close the regular season with games against Penn State (in State College, Pa., on April 23) and Ohio State (in Piscataway on April 29).

"The Big Ten Conference is probably the best conference for lacrosse right now,'' Brecht said. "And it's going to be exciting when Big Ten play starts.''

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