No. 15 Rutgers women's lacrosse travels to face No. 3 Northwestern
After an upset loss over the weekend, the Rutgers women’s lacrosse team will head to Evanston, Illinois, tomorrow evening to face Northwestern. The No. 15 Scarlet Knights (10-2, 2-1) will look for a win over what will be yet another ranked Big Ten opponent.
Rutgers has been in the news as recently as yesterday as the Big Ten named graduate student attacker Taralyn Naslonski as Offensive Player of the Week in its weekly honors. Naslonski contributed a team-high 6 points against Arizona State with 2 goals and two assists.
Her goals pushed her into second all-time in points for the Knights and now trails only Heather Jones for the most points in Rutgers history. This accolade marks her second career Offensive Player of the Week award.
Looking back to this past Sunday, the Knights suffered a tough overtime loss against No. 25 the Sun Devils (5-6, 3-2) in an overtime clash.
The program led the first quarter in goals outscoring Arizona State 3-1, but the second quarter only added more tension as both teams would score 3 goals each to end the first half to make the score 6-4 in favor of the Knights.
With a comeback approaching, Rutgers needed to regain a firm grip on the game. But the Sun Devils’ top goal scorers delivered and kept the game tight.
The final quarter brought some late-game fireworks. Arizona State opened the quarter with a goal, but the Knights responded quickly to keep their 2-goal lead. But the Sun Devils would go on a 2-0 run in the game’s final 6 minutes to send both teams into overtime.
Carley Adams scored the goal in overtime to give Arizona State the victory over the Knights.
Meanwhile, the No. 3 Wildcats’ (10-2, 3-0) last win over Penn brought their sixth consecutive win of the season. Northwestern had a 4-goal lead going into the half and spent the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth on a 7-0 scoring run. The team maintained a comfortable distance for the remainder of the game and ended with a 17-9 win.
Rutgers will be looking for a long-awaited win over the Wildcats tomorrow as it has an 0-12 record dating back to 2006. The Knights’ last meeting saw a 24-14 defeat in last season’s Big Ten semifinals.
Rutgers has a lot to look out for as Northwestern tops the Big Ten in conference record and goals scored. They also have the league’s top goalscorer in Lauren Gilbert while junior midfielder Cassidy Spilis sits third in the conference in the same stat.
The game will begin at 8:30 p.m. and will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network. Stats will be available after the game on ScarletKnights.com.
For more updates on the Rutgers women's lacrosse team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
