No. 13 Rutgers women's lacrosse travels to face No. 18 Temple
The Rutgers women’s lacrosse team faces Temple today in Philadelphia. This road game will be the program's first ranked matchup of the season. The No. 13 Scarlet Knights (6-0, 0-0) move up in the national rankings after decisively beating Villanova in their last game 17-4.
They moved up two spots to No. 12 in this week's Nike/USA Lacrosse top 20 and one place to No. 13 in the ILWomen/IWLCA Coaches poll. This consensus top-15 ranking marks their highest ranking in program history.
Rutgers' last match against the Wildcats (1-5, 0-0) brought its perfect record up to six games, the best start to a season in the program’s 46-year history. Senior attacker Marin Hartshorn, junior midfielder Cassidy Spilis and sophomore attacker Kate Carolonza secured hat tricks in the win.
The Knights have scored at least 16 goals every match. Rutgers ranks fourth in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 17 goals per game.
After a free-position goal in the third quarter, Spilis became the 27th player in program history to secure 100 points. She is now just 2 goals away from reaching the 100th goal of her career.
Junior defender Meghan Ball set a game high in ground balls on the Knights' defensive end and was a defensive powerhouse with four caused turnovers and three draw controls. Sophomore goalkeeper Sophia Cardello allowed only 4 goals last game, the program’s fewest goals allowed in a game since its 2018 win over LIU.
The No. 18 Owls’ (5-1, 0-0) last match on the road saw a comeback victory in the second half over UMBC. After being down 9-3, Temple scored 11 goals to secure the win.
Quinn Nicolai, the team's leading scorer, netted 6 of the program's 14 goals, and Belle Mastropietro also bagged a hat trick for the Owls. Defensively, Mackenzie Roth tied her career-high three ground balls and caused a turnover in the team's win over UMBC.
All three women received AAC Weekly Honors for their performances last week over the Retrievers and Kennesaw State.
This season, Temple will be 1 of 7 ranked teams on Rutgers’ schedule. The Owls lead the all-time series against the Knights 23-8. On Temple's home turf, Rutgers won its last matchup 13-11 in 2020.
The Knights will travel to Philadelphia today at 6 p.m. to begin the Owls’ three-game homestand. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be provided at the first draw at ScarletKnights.com.
For more updates on the Rutgers women's lacrosse team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
