No. 22 Rutgers women's lacrosse falls in rivalry matchup against No. 23 Princeton
The Rutgers women's lacrosse team was defeated by Princeton 13-10 on the road Wednesday evening. The Scarlet Knights (4-1, 0-0) faced their first loss of the season against the Tigers (2-1, 0-0).
No. 22 Rutgers started the competition with the 1st goal from freshman midfielder Payton Tini. Tini was named Big Ten Rookie of the Week following the Knights' victory against Army on Saturday.
No. 23 Princeton was able to fire back quickly after Tini's goal, as the Tigers saw their 1st goal of the game from Ellie Mueller. Assisted by sophomore attacker and midfielder Lily Dixon, junior midfielder and attacker Victoria Goldrick netted the 2nd goal for Rutgers to quickly break the tie.
Graduate student midfielder Cassidy Spilis followed Goldrick's goal with a pair of her own scores to bring the Knights to an early 4-1 lead.
Keeping the contest tight, Princeton's Kari Buonanno snuck the ball into the net to give the Tigers their 2nd goal of the game. From then on, it was all Princeton.
With 23 seconds left in the first quarter, the Tigers were able to tie the game 4-4.
Princeton carried its hot play into the second quarter with 2 goals within the first minute of the quarter. Haven Dora flung the unassisted goal into the net, with the following goal coming from McKenzie Blake.
Both teams then went on a long drought without finding goals following these two back-to-back scores. Eventually, though, the Tigers were able to bring their lead up to 7-4 with 3:23 remaining in the half. The goal made it 6 unanswered from Princeton.
Throughout the whole quarter, Rutgers was unable to regain the offensive momentum it had in the first quarter. With 2:10 remaining, Spilis scored her 3rd goal of the match to revive the Knights' offensive spark.
The Tigers entered the second half of the game with the lead, and it remained that way for the rest of the way. Princeton capitalized with 5 goals during the third quarter, which helped propel it to victory.
Rutgers only tallied 2 goals from sophomore midfielder Kayleigh Coughlin and senior midfielder Ashley Moynahan during the quarter. The Knights continued to fight but struggled for the rest of the game to make a comeback.
Tini and Spilis both scored goals early into the fourth quarter to make things interesting. Still, Rutgers could not muster up enough offensive power to win. Spilis scored the last goal with 56 seconds remaining.
The Knights will now look to bounce back against Oregon on Sunday. The contest will be held at noon at SHI Stadium on Busch campus.
For more updates on the Rutgers women's lacrosse team, follow @TargumSports on X.
