No. 15 Rutgers women’s lacrosse tops Ohio State 10-8, ties program’s wins record

No. 15 Rutgers women’s lacrosse (14-3, 4-2) finished the regular season with a dramatic, come from behind victory against RV Ohio State (9-7, 2-4) in Columbus on Thursday night. After trailing 7-4 midway through the third quarter, the Scarlet Knights took control by outscoring the Buckeyes 6-1 to close out the 10-8 win. It clinched a third place finish in the conference standings and the No. 3 seed in next weekend’s Big Ten Tournament in Piscataway. In addition, this team tied the 1999 squad for the most wins in program history with its 14th victory.

Cassidy Spilis and Marin Hartshorn each delivered hat tricks with five of their six combined goals coming down the stretch to lead the comeback. Spilis also had five ground balls, two draw controls and two caused turnovers. Mikayla Dever also played a huge role with her lone goal tying the game and then assisting on the game winning goal scored by Spilis.

The program’s all-time leader in points, Taralyn Naslonski, added a goal and an assist while Ashley Campo and Janey Galski scored once.

Defensively, Rutgers was led once again by Meghan Ball. She had a game high seven draw controls as well as three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Goalkeeper Sophia Cardello made 9 saves in her 12th win of the season. The Scarlet Knights held Ohio State to just one goal over the final 24 minutes of the game.

Rutgers will play No. 2 seed Northwestern on Friday, May 6 at 8:00 p.m. in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament at SHI Stadium. The Scarlet Knights lost to the Wildcats, who are ranked No. 5 nationally, 21-13 in Evanston on April 7. RU will look to win the rematch in front of its home fans and the game will air live on the Big Ten Network.

Tickets for the 2022 Big Ten Women’s Lacrosse Tournament can be found here.