Rutgers stays undefeated to begin season
Having played its first three games on the road, Marist hoped home field advantage would help turn around its start to the season, but a 17-7 slashing by the Rutgers women’s lacrosse team helped the Scarlet Knights (4-0) continue their undefeated start.
Saturday’s victory helped Rutgers continue its best start since 2010, when it started 5-0 en route to an 11-5 record. The Red Foxes (0-4) have yet to beat the Knights in five tries.
The dominant performance was led by junior attackwoman Taralyn Naslonski. Naslonski netted 6 goals on six shots, and was 1 of 3 Rutgers players who scored multiple goals. She was joined by senior midfielder Samantha Budd, who finished with 3 goals, and true freshman midfielder Cassidy Spilis, who finished with 2 goals.
Both teams kept the pressure on the goalkeepers, but true freshman goalkeeper Alonna Gliksman recorded her fourth straight victory to start her collegiate career. Both Gliksman and Marist's Delaney Galvin had shutouts going until just after 7 minutes into the game, when Kelly George scored her first of 2 goals against the Knights.
Rutgers responded by rifling home 7 consecutive goals. Naslonski scored 3 goals in a matter of 5:32 minutes. After 12 minutes of Knights domination, the Red Foxes answered and scored 2 goals. The first 30 minutes ended with a 3-0 goal streak for Rutgers. With only 24 seconds left on the clock, Naslonski found twine for her fourth of the day.
Budd added 2 goals for the Knights before the half expired. Spilis, senior midfielder Dakota Pastore, junior midfielder Julia Lytle and true freshman midfielder Ashley Campo all notched 1 as well. Campo’s score was the first of her career. The first half ended with a score of 10-3 in favor of the team from the Banks.
When the second half started, Naslonski picked up right where she left off and kept both her and Rutgers’ scoring streaks, registering her fifth score of the game, with this one being a free position shot. A minute later, she scored her second hat trick of the game. Both of her hat tricks came from 3 consecutive goals, though the second one was interrupted by halftime.
Budd added a hat trick of her own after scoring on a man advantage.
Naslonski’s performance landed her in 20th in Knights history with 112 career points. Budd also moved up Rutgers' history totem pole, now sitting in 18th with 118 career points.
Spilis scored another to push the scoring run to 6-0 and the game’s score to 13-3. Marist responded, but Budd and sophomore midfielder Camryn Rogers brought the Knights’ score to 15. Rutgers scored again after 2 more Red Fox goals.
After that, at the 7:51 minutes mark, sophomore goalkeeper Mackenzie Porter took over the position between the pipes, where she registered two saves and gave up only 1 goal, which was scored with 5 seconds left on the clock. A few seconds after the late goal, the final horn sounded and the Knights secured the victory by 10 goals.
In the second half, junior attackwoman Hannah Hollingsworth and senior attackwoman Jordan Drab found the back of the net for their first times this season.
Tonight, Rutgers takes on Penn in its second straight road game. The Quakers (2-0) have scored a combined 32 goals compared to giving up only 18. Head coach Melissa Lehman is returning to her alma mater for the first time since leaving after 10 years of coaching there.
Lehman is the only head coach in Knights history to start their first season 4-0. A win tonight would not only continue the impressive start for Rutgers, but also help Lehman adjust to her new position.
For updates on the Rutgers women’s lacrosse team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
