No. 24 Rutgers women's lacrosse finishes season with win over No. 11 Maryland
- Jim Kryjer
- Apr 26, 2021
- 2 min read
The No. 24 Rutgers women’s lacrosse team could not have written a better script to finish off its 2021 season. Following one of their biggest wins in program history against Penn State, the Scarlet Knights (5-7, 5-7) defeated No. 11 Maryland 16-14 on Senior Day.
This was a statement victory for Rutgers, as it lost to the Terrapins (7-5, 6-5) 14-12 earlier in the season. It was the team's first win over Maryland in the school's 21-game series history.
The game started off with an early goal by the Knights. Redshirt freshman attacker Grace Curran found junior attacker Marin Hartshorn in front of the Terrapins’ net to put them up 1.
Maryland then took control of the game by orchestrating a 3-0 scoring run. It was not until senior attacker Taralyn Naslonski netted an unassisted goal that Rutgers fought its way back into the game.
As soon as the Knights took back the lead 5-4, on a goal by sophomore midfielder Ashley Campo, they held strong for the rest of the first half. This was, in large part, a result of freshman goalkeeper Sophia Cardello. Cardello came up huge for the Rutgers defense by recording five saves.
By the conclusion of the first half, the Knights had outshot the Terrapins 23-12 and were leading by a score of 8-4. Hartshorn had accounted for 4 points in the first half alone.
Although Maryland was down by a large margin, the Terrapins came out strong in the second half. Thanks to another 3-0 scoring run, they managed to tie the game up at 9 apiece.
Led by Naslonski and sophomore midfielder Cassidy Spilis, Rutgers manufactured a 7-0 scoring run that basically sealed the win. Maryland added a couple more goals before the end of regulation, but it proved to be too little and too late.
Both Spilis and Naslonksi notched hat tricks on the day, with Naslonski recording a team-high 4 goals. Freshman midfielder Ashley Moynahan added 2 goals as well.
As the season comes to a close, the Knights have ended with back-to-back wins.
Head women's lacrosse coach Melissa Lehman has led the program to its most Big Ten wins since joining the league in 2015.
"They've been leaders during one of the toughest years imaginable," Lehman said. "They just pour their heart and soul into this program and you see it on the field. We're so pumped for them."
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