Rutgers women’s lacrosse trailed Ohio State 12-7 with just over 14 minutes remaining in Thursday night’s game at SHI Stadium. With the game seemingly slipping away, the Scarlet Knights recovered with a stunning comeback to ultimately beat the Buckeyes 13-12 in overtime.
Freshman Lily Dixon came off the bench and delivered a heroic performance. She finished with a career high four goals and an assist. Dixon scored three of RU’s last four goals to produce the dramatic victory. Jenna Byrne found Dixon for the game winning goal 49 seconds into overtime that sealed a season defining comeback. After struggling at times this season, Rutgers has now won three straight games to improve to 7-7 overall. There is no quit in head coach Melissa Lehman’s team.
“This team found a way to pull this one out,” said Lehman. “It was all Rutgers in that last quarter. We just kept getting a lot of possessions and we attacked the cage with so much confidence down the stretch. It is what we were looking for all game.”
Fellow freshman Ava Kane scored a hat trick while All-American Cassidy Spilis had two goals. Byrne finished with a goal and two assists. In addition, Marin Hartshorn became the fifth player in program history to reach 200 points for her career with a goal and a assist.
The Rutgers defense forced 17 turnovers including a game high five caused turnovers by All-American Meghan Ball. Goalkeeper Sophia Cardello made six saves and none were bigger than a game saving stop with two minutes to play and the score tied at 12-12.
“I am just so proud of my whole team,” Dixon said. “Our defense came up huge and Cardello had one of the best one-vs.-one saves at the end of the game. I am just so proud of everyone and the way we finished.”
The Scarlet Knights earned its first conference win of the season and clinched the No. 6 seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament. Their matchup opponent, date and time is to be determined. Up next is Sunday’s regular season finale and Senior Day for the program. RU hosts No. 4 James Madison at 1 p.m. and it will stream live on B1G+. It’s an opportunity to build even more momentum heading into the postseason.
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pj43
April 21, 2023 at 3:15 pm
I’m embarrassed to say that I DVRd the game for later viewing last eve and, with the score 12-7, I gave up on this team and went to bed. Shame on me but so happy for the way the ladies came back. This has been a disappointing regular season for both LAX teams but maybe the Big Ten Tournament can be redemption for both and finish with NCAA bids.