Rutgers women's lacrosse prepares for season-opener against Delaware
The Rutgers women’s lacrosse team opens its season at Delaware this Saturday. The No. 17 Scarlet Knights are hopeful for an impressive 2022 season after their historic bout last spring.
Last season, head coach Melissa Lehman led the Knights to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1999 and their first-ever NCAA postseason victory. The program also achieved six wins over ranked teams last season, setting a program record.
Lehman also steered Rutgers towards its second conference tournament win since their induction into the Big Ten in 2015. The Knights' season ended with their first appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals.
Ahead of this coming season, Rutgers is ranked No. 17 in preseason polling by ILWomen and IWLCA. This is off a season where the program earned its highest ranking since 2010 at No. 14.
Various Knights have earned laurels before the season opener this Saturday, with two preseason All-America accolades for junior defender Meghan Ball and junior midfielder Cassidy Spilis.
Last season, Ball earned First Team All-Big Ten honors and achieved a single-game program record with 13 draw controls in the postseason win over Drexel. Spilis also led the Knights in scoring last season and was second in points, draw controls and caused turnovers.
Alongside graduate student attacker Taralyn Naslonski, the pair was named Big Ten Players to Watch earlier this week. Naslonski finished as Rutgers’ leader in points and assists last season and currently sits at sixth all-time in career points with 176 points. The Knights’ experience stretches the starting lineup as 10 starters from last year’s NCAA Tournament return this season.
In addition to the experience, graduate student attacker Stephanie Kelly is a new member to the program. The St. Joseph’s transfer earned Atlantic-10 (A-10) Co-Offensive Player of the Year and finished as the A-10 conference leader in points and assists.
The program’s next game against the Blue Hens will be the two teams’ 31st meeting, with the record standing at 17-14 in favor of Delaware, but Rutgers has won the last three meetings and will hope to add a fourth this weekend.
The match will begin at 11 a.m. in Newark, Delaware, with live stats provided at the start of the game on ScarletKnights.com.
“We always want to play hard for each other. To do that last year and have success against some of the best teams in the country — it really propelled the program and has made us hungrier for more,” Lehman said.
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