Rutgers women’s lacrosse exorcised some demons on Saturday. Four weeks to the day after losing a 5 goal lead in falling 12-11 to Johns Hopkins (8-8; 4-2) at Homewood Field, the Scarlet Knights redeemed themselves when it mattered most. RU, the sixth seed, came from behind on the road to defeat No. 3 seed JHU 15-14 in the Big Ten Quarterfinals. It was a clutch performance by Melissa Lehman’s team who improve to 8-8 (1-5) on the season.
After trailing 5-2 in the first period and 9-6 in the second period, Rutgers continued to battle. The Scarlet Knights went on a 5-0 run over a 18 minute period to take control of the game. Johns Hopkins tried to complete another five goal comeback with RU leading 15-10 with just over seven minutes to play. To their credit, the Blue Jays scored four straight goals before falling short.
Cassidy Spilis scored 5 goals and also became the program’s all-time leading scorer in leading RU to victory. She also had 2 assists. Marin Hartshorn had 3 goals and 2 assists. Lily Dixon had 2 goals and 3 assists. In addition, Ashley Moynahan added 2 goals while Jenna Byrne had a goal and 2 assists. Ava Kane and Janey Galski each scored once, Mikayla Dever had 2 assists and Gianna Eglauf had one.
Goalkeeper Sophia Cardello made 11 saves in the win. First Team All-Big Ten defender Meghan Ball led the defense with 5 draw controls, 4 caused turnovers and 3 ground balls.
It was a gutsy win for a team that was once 4-7 before winning four of its last five games. It was a big victory for its NCAA Tournament resume as Johns Hopkins is No. 13 in the RPI rankings. The Scarlet Knights are No. 30 and will move up next week.
Rutgers will play No. 2 seed Maryland on Thursday, May 4 at 6:00 p.m. in the Big Ten semifinals in Columbus, Ohio. It will air live on the Big Ten Network.
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