State natives leading Rutgers into Final Four

Soon after Mitch Bartolo and Ronan Jacoby arrived at Rutgers last summer and realized the striking similarity of their circumstances and that of those around them, they joked about what a disaster the ensuing year had the potential to become.

They were strangers and roommates, joining a new university and new lacrosse program together, both in the same master’s program — just like their two other roommates, and just like a neighbor — making for a handful of first-year players walking the same unknown path into 2021-22.

“We’re in all the same classes, obviously all the same practices, and we’re going to spend every second of every day with each other,” Jacoby said. “We were like, ‘This could end so poorly.’ ”

It is ending in East Hartford, in pursuit of the pot of gold under the lacrosse rainbow this Memorial Day weekend.

Rutgers is in the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Final Four for the first time in program history, set to face Cornell in a national semifinal Saturday at Rentschler Field. Maryland

and Princeton face each other in Saturday’s other semifinal, and the national championship game is Monday.

Bartolo, of Norwalk, and Jacoby, of Glastonbury, have been key to the Scarlet Knights’ success. Their previous college experiences disrupted by the pandemic and the first leg of their coursework completed, both transferred to Rutgers — Bartolo from Penn and Jacoby from Wesleyan, where he won a Division III national championship as a freshman in 2018.

“I think we’re pretty loose,” said Bartolo, who spent three years at McMahon High before reclassifying and graduating from The Hotchkiss School in Salisbury in 2017. “I think we’re grateful. That’s what it comes down to. We’re grateful and we’re confident. We’ve been in big games before. Obviously, these are the biggest games that come with this sport, but we’ve been in big games and performed when we had to and we’re confident in what we can do. This is a dream come true for a little kid.”

Bartolo, who plays attack, has 43 goals and 17 assists for

Ben Solomon / Rutgers Athletics Mitch Bartolo of Norwalk has 43 goals, 17 assists and 60 points for Rutgers, which plays Cornell on Saturday in the Final Four at Rentschler Field.