The Rutgers women’s lacrosse team (7-8; 1-5) has a chance at redemption on Saturday. They’ll face No. 3 seed Johns Hopkins (8-7; 4-2) in the Big Ten Quarterfinals. The No. 6 seeded Scarlet Knights led the Blue Jays 11-6 on April 1 before falling after allowing six unanswered goals. The rematch will take place in Baltimore once again on Homewood Field. The game begins at 1 p.m. and will stream live on Big Ten Plus. The winner of RU-JHU will face the winner of No. 2 seed Maryland vs. No. 7 Ohio State on Thursday, May 4 in Columbus.
On Wednesday, Meghan Ball and Cassidy Spilis were named First Team All-Big Ten selections. In addition, Ashley Campo and Marin Hartshorn were earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors. Janey Galski was named the Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree for Rutgers. It’s the third straight season that the program has had at least four players earn all-conference honors.
Ball became the first player in program history to be named a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection since joining the league in 2014. It was the third time in the careers that Ball and Spilis were named to the First Team. Campo and Hartshorn earned All-B1G honors for the first time. The league will name major honors like Player of the Year and more on Monday, May 8. Ball leads the country with 3.67 caused turnovers per game and is in strong consideration for Defensive Player of the Year. Spilis, who leads RU with 41 goals this season, is the reigning Big Ten Midfielder of the Year.
Head coach Melissa Lehman’s team struggled in the middle part of the season before rattling off a four game winning streak. It was capped with a dramatic, come from behind overtime victory over Ohio State last week after trailing by five goals. The regular season ended with a 14-7 loss to No. 4 James Madison on Sunday.
If Rutgers hopes to return to the NCAA Tournament for a program record third straight time, making a serious run in the Big Ten Tournament is needed. They currently have an RPI rankings of No. 30 and Johns Hopkins is No. 30. It’s a must win for RU. Last season, the Scarlet Knights made its first ever Big Ten Championship game and will look to do so again.
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