No. 14 Rutgers women's lacrosse dominates Lehigh to improve to 4-0
In its fourth straight win to open the season, the Rutgers women’s lacrosse team defeated Lehigh 17-6 yesterday. The win was the program’s first since 1990 against the Mountain Hawks (0-2, 0-0).
The No. 14 Scarlet Knights (4-0, 0-0) undertook a decisive victory against Lehigh and set many game-highs in the win. Rutgers has yet to score less than 16 goals per game and has held 3 out of its 4 opponents to less than 10 goals this season.
The Knights opened with a goal 2 minutes into the game from junior midfielder Cassidy Spilis, the first of 5 goals in the game for Spilis.
The rest of the team came out shooting as well, netting 8 goals in the first quarter alone. Sophomore midfielder Ashley Moynahan contributed her first goal of the season in the 8-1 first-quarter scoring run.
"I thought we came out ready to go," said head coach Melissa Lehman. "We spoke about being in control from the start, and I was very happy with how we began today … Overall, we were aggressive all over the field and made those hustle plays.”
The Mountain Hawks responded with only 1 goal in the first quarter but were dominated by Rutgers’ ground game of eight draw controls and nine ground balls. In the quarter, the Knights also capitalized on Lehigh’s nine turnovers.
"Rutgers is a veteran, physical team. We will benefit from this game experience," said Lehigh head coach Jill Redfern after the loss.
Veteran players like graduate student attacker Taralyn Naslonski got the job done with a hat trick. She scored her hat trick within the first quarter of play and in just 4 shots. Naslonski leads the team in scoring with 17 goals this season.
Scoring slowed in the second quarter as Spilis got her third hat trick of the season and sophomore midfielder Mikayla Dever converted her third goal of the season. The margin was 10-4 in favor of Rutgers going into halftime.
The Knights scored 7 more goals in the final half to secure the win. Spilis and Naslonski ended with 5 goals apiece while junior midfielder Ashley Campo assisted a season-high 3 goals to end the match.
Junior defender Meghan Ball took control of the backline with four caused turnovers and seven draw controls in the game. Ball leads the team in caused turnovers so far this season.
This victory comes a week after Rutgers’ 17-16 comeback road win over Georgetown in the Hoyas’ (1-1, 0-0) home opener. The program’s tight victory was defined by the final 22 minutes of play after an 8-2 scoring run.
The Knights set new season-highs in shots, shots on goal, saves, ground balls and caused turnovers.
Rutgers will return to SHI Stadium on Busch campus this Wednesday at 5 p.m. to host Monmouth. Live stats will be provided on ScarletKnights.com at the start of the game.
For more updates on the Rutgers women's lacrosse team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
