When Rutgers junior defenseman Michael Rexrode thinks back to last year’s breakout season, he fast forwards to the bitter end on NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday – the moment when he and his teammates learned there would be no more lacrosse for the Scarlet Knights in 2016.

“When our name didn’t get called [as an at-large participant], everyone was heartbroken,” Rexrode recalled. “But we had a pretty good sense of the standard we had set. We all realized what we had started – and there’s still a chip on our shoulder.”

In Piscataway, N.J., under sixth-year head coach Brian Brecht and anchored by a fast-paced playing style grounded in creating transition scoring opportunities whenever possible, the Scarlet Knights definitely have something going.

On the heels of last year’s 11-5 finish, which marked the school’s first winning season since 2007, tied for the most single-season victories in the program’s 100-year history and featured two victories over Johns Hopkins – its first wins over the Blue Jays since 1990 – Rutgers has its sights set higher.

The Scarlet Knights want to win their first Big Ten title, reach the school’s 10th NCAA tournament and first since 2004, and do more damage after that. Rutgers has never advanced past the NCAA quarterfinal round.

Judging by the 5-0 start that has raised their ranking to No. 6, the Scarlet Knights mean business.

In Saturday’s 13-11 win over Brown, Rutgers held the Bears to nearly half of their scoring average and out-scored Brown, 10-5, over the game’s final 37 minutes. Rexrode spearheaded a unit that held Tewaaraton Trophy winner Dylan Molloy to – for him – a modest three goals and one assist. Rexrode caused four of Brown’s 22 turnovers and steadily harassed Molloy, who committed a game-high seven miscues.

On the offensive end, there was freshman attackman Kieran Mullins blossoming with a career-high four goals, including three in the pivotal fourth quarter. Mullins has stepped in ably for Adam Charalambides, last year’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year who, along with starting senior midfielder Christian Trasolini, went down with a season-ending injury during the preseason.

By beating Brown, the Scarlet Knights notched the 600th victory during the school’s 100th season of men’s lacrosse, a span that actually dates to 1887 and has generated over 200 All-Americans. And it served further notice that Rutgers, which has flirted with upper-echelon status at times as a Division I program, finally might be maturing into a winning program that plans to be a national factor for a while.

To Brecht, who came to Piscataway after leading Siena to 57 victories over five seasons and taking the Saints to the first two NCAA tournaments in school history as Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champs, Rutgers is where it should be as the program continues the evolution he envisioned before taking the job in 2011.

“When this opportunity was presented to me, it looked like a dream job,” said Brecht, who was a well-traveled assistant coach with five stops over nine seasons, including Rutgers in 2001.

“We’ve got a great state school, a great institution academically, with so many good players in the state,” he added. “We’re located on the [recruiting] beltway between New York and Baltimore. We’re in the Big Ten. We have a great facility, including a full-field, indoor facility, and a very enthusiastic alumni base. A lot of things were in place before I got here.”

Since Brecht arrived, the school has increased its funding, as Rutgers now carries the NCAA-maximum allotment of 12.6 scholarships. The Scarlet Knights have a fully-funded coaching staff and support staff that includes a full-time strength and conditioning coach, trainer, academic advisor and nutritionist.

“I like what we’ve been rebuilding,” Brecht added. “That didn’t happen overnight at Siena, just like it didn’t happen overnight at Notre Dame or Duke. It sure hasn’t happened overnight here.”

The players and coaches point to the culture changes that have colored the program in recent years as a huge reason for Rutgers’ recent success, which includes an 11-game home winning streak that began in 2015.

Over Brecht’s first two seasons in 2012 and 2013 as Big East conference members, the Scarlet Knights finished a combined 8-20 – giving Rutgers eight losing seasons over a nine-year span. By the time the Scarlet Knights reached their first Big East tournament in 2014, where they were promptly dismissed by top-seeded Denver, Rutgers was growing.

“By the time I got here [after the 2014 season], we had some pretty good players and were getting some good [recruiting] commitments,” recalled assistant coach Jim Mitchell, who is in his third season under Brecht and second as offensive coordinator.

“You could see the culture starting to change,” Mitchell added. “Guys were getting bigger and stronger. More guys were arriving early and staying late, doing extra work on their own. Seniors who weren’t playing on game day were giving everything they had in practice every day and we had a single [player’s] voice pushing the players.”

That voice belonged to Scott Bieda, an under-recruited 5-feet-9 attackman from Bridgewater, N.J. who says he turned down a full scholarship offer from Manhattan for the chance to earn his keep at Rutgers as a preferred walk-on. That gamble worked out nicely.

Bieda evolved into equal parts playmaker, finisher and locker room cop. He also became a two-team, first-team all-conference performer and the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2016 by leading the league in assists (38) and points (66).

“I remember being 1-11 as a freshman [in 2013] and sitting in the locker room thinking that this was going to be a long four years,” said Bieda, who became a valuable voice as a team captain under Brecht.

“The culture change has to come before the winning happens,” Bieda added. “We wanted no separation of classes. We wanted every senior to pick a freshman to have by his side. That’s the meaning of family.

“We wanted it understood that guys who don’t play on game day were important to this team. Coach Brecht set the standard. Is the locker room clean? Are the ball bags on the practice field on time? Are we in two lines for drills? Are you finishing the drill every time?”

By 2015, as Rutgers officially joined the Big Ten, the incoming class that included Rexrode, defenseman Alex Bronzo and attackman Jules Heningburg showed striking talent. It was clear to Brecht that freshmen would have something to say quickly about Rutgers’ immediate future.

The year produced a 5-10 record that was deceptive. Six losses were by one or two goals, including one-goal losses to third-ranked Maryland and 10th-ranked Princeton.

“There were some good moments, like the [season-ending, 17-10] win over Ohio State,” said Heningburg, the team’s second-leading scorer a year ago.

“But the culture was still kind of messed up – guys going out [late at night] when they shouldn’t have been going out. You’d think that everybody playing Division I lacrosse would do whatever they can do win, but that wasn’t the case. That really changed when Scott led us last year.”

By the time the 2016 season started, the Scarlet Knights had embraced and begun to execute their transition-fueled philosophy that had worked so effectively under Brecht at Siena. The all-in message truly had begun sink in. And leaders such as Bieda and senior long-stick midfielder Zack Sikora (seven goals, 10 points, team-high 45 ground balls) were showing the way.

The Scarlet Knights opened with a 7-2 start against nonconference competition, but fell against Princeton and Stony Brook by a combined 12 goals. But it was on April 2 in its Big Ten opener – a 16-9 stunner over visiting, ninth-ranked Hopkins – that Rutgers guaranteed just its eighth winning year in 25 seasons.

That victory would pale in comparison to the one on May 5, in the Big Ten tournament semifinals under the lights at Homewood. In a riveting contest that featured 10 ties and five lead changes, the Scarlet Knights had the last word with a 14-12 victory. They would lose two days later to top-seeded Maryland, but the foundation had been laid.

“Those games really fueled us for this year. We have the inner belt now,” said junior goalie Max Edelmann, who watched those Hopkins wins on the sideline last year, after going down with a serious abdominal injury in the season’s third game, before getting offseason surgery and reclaiming his job in 2017.

“Those wins over Hopkins opened our eyes to how good we are,” added Rexrode, who was drawing Division III interest before Rutgers made him an offer just before his senior year at Loudon County (Va.) High School. “We might not have the best recruits or athletes, but we out-hustled and out-worked that team.”

“Considering where we came from, that win [at Homewood] will go down as one of the most special days of my career,” Bieda said.

“What Brian has done is inject Rutgers with the same thing he had going at Siena. They know who they are and who they want to be, and they are identifying guys who fit their style,” Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala said. “Rutgers is a place that should be able to compete well in lacrosse and do it consistently.”

“I was thrilled for the senior class and our alumni,” said Brecht, reflecting on the tournament win at Homewood. “I also think that’s a wakeup call for the guys coming into the program.

“We’re developing trust and confidence in the way we want to play, and game day is becoming more about turning things over to the players. The expectations and standards are going up. The program is maturing.”