No. 13 Rutgers women's lacrosse set to battle No. 20 Johns Hopkins
The Rutgers women’s lacrosse team will host Johns Hopkins tomorrow. The No. 13 Scarlet Knights (8-1, 0-1) face their second conference opponent of the season after starting with eight non-conference games.
Last time on the draw, Rutgers suffered its first defeat of the season against Maryland in College Park, Maryland. The Knights trailed for the majority of the first quarter but closed the lead to a 2-goal deficit going in the third quarter. Unfortunately, then-No. 4 Terrapins (8-0, 1-0) put the game to bed with a 9-1 run after that in the second half.
After the loss, the program moved down one spot from 12th to 13th in the national rankings with eight games to go in the regular season. Last week, Rutgers had its highest rank in program history at No. 12.
Approaching a milestone with the game against the No. 20 Blue Jays (5-4, 0-1) coming up is graduate student attacker Taralyn Naslonski. She ranks third all-time in both career points and goals with 212 points and 151 goals. The Randolph, New Jersey, native hopes to surpass both records as she sits behind Katie Batiuk in both categories, who played for the Knights between 2004 and 2007.
Naslonski is not alone leading Rutgers this season. With Naslonski sitting second, junior midfielder Cassidy Spilis leads the team with 32 goals, ranking third in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, graduate student attacker Stephanie Kelly is the Knights’ points leader with 26 so far this season, which is also good enough for second in the conference.
As for Johns Hopkins, the Blue Jays are looking to build a winning streak when they visit Piscataway tomorrow. After losing its previous 3 out of 4 games against then-No. 10 Michigan, then-No. 6 Stony Brook and then-No. 25 Navy, Johns Hopkins defeated East Carolina 14-7 over the weekend.
The program’s top goal scorers, Madison McPherson and Shelby Harrison, combined for 9 goals as they outscored the Pirates (6-5, 0-0) in every quarter.
The Rutgers and Blue Jays series history favors Johns Hopkins 6-1. While the Knights won their first game ever against the team last season, they suffered a 17-10 defeat later in the same year to the Blue Jays.
Johns Hopkins ranks last in winning percentage in the Big Ten compared to Rutgers' third position. The Blue Jays ranks first in the Big Ten woman-down goals per game with 3 total this season.
The game will start at 5 p.m. and will be played at SHI Stadium on Busch campus. Live stats will be provided on ScarletKnights.com.
For updates on the Rutgers women's lacrosse team, follow @TargumSports on Twitter.
