BROOKLYN – Junior attack
Dana Gisonno and freshman midfielder
Taralyn Naslonski each recorded hat tricks as 10 players found the back of the cage for Rutgers women's lacrosse (1-1, 0-0) in its 15-4 victory over LIU Brooklyn (0-1, 0-0) Tuesday on the road. The Scarlet Knights outshot the blackbirds, 36-16, and forced its opponent into 25 turnovers.
Senior co-captain
Kerri Puckhaber produced two goals and two assists, while junior
Abbey Brooks contributed a goal and three helpers during the midweek victory. Senior
Nicole Kopyta, senior
Paige Paratore, junior
Allie Ferrara, sophomore
Samantha Budd, redshirt sophomore
Emily Santana and freshman
Julia Lytle all contributed goals Tuesday afternoon.
"We definitely wanted to use today to improve our offensive output," said head coach
Laura Brand Sias. "It was one of the struggles in our last game, so to walk away today with 10 different goal scorers and 11 players registering a point is good progress with only one day of practice. We need to ride this momentum into our next game."
Rutgers started the game on a 4-0 scoring run, as Naslonski found Puckhaber for the first goal of the game at the 26:18 mark. Paratore converted an unassisted strike with 21:38 left in the half, while goals from Kopyta and Naslonski made it a quick 4-0 lead for the Scarlet Knights. Nasonski's goal was the first of her collegiate career.
LIU Brooklyn scored for the first time before RU responded with another 4-0 run. Brooks produced her second assist, as the attacker found Santana streaking in front of the cage for the score at the 15:06 mark. Puckhaber followed with the free position goal, while Gisonno added her first and second scores of the game to give Rutgers a 8-1 lead with less than seven minutes left in the opening half. Rutgers would enter the locker room with an 8-2 lead.
The Scarlet Knights maintained control in the second half by spreading out their scoring load. Naslonski converted on a free position attempt to start a 5-1 scoring run out of the break, as the offensive streak also featured goal contributions from Brooks, Budd and Lytle. Lytle's first-career collegiate goal gave RU a 13-3 lead with 19 minutes left in the game.
Goals from Ferrara and Gisonno down the stretch secured the out-of-conference win over the Blackbirds. In total, 25 Scarlet Knights played in the contest.
Rutgers returns to action on Saturday, when the Scarlet Knights close out their three-game road swing with a matchup at Monmouth.
KNIGHT NOTES
- Rutgers had 10 goal scorers and 11 point scorers, as junior
Tess Howland earned an assist in the win.
- Two Scarlet Knights – Lytle and
Hannah Hollingsworth – made their collegiate debuts.
- Gisonno's hat trick was the first of her career and marked the most points scored for her in a game as a Scarlet Knight
- Brook's three helpers were a career-high.
-
Regina Sharp produced a career-high four caused turnovers and six ground balls against the Blackbirds.
- Paratore matched a career-high in goals and produced a career-high three ground balls in the win
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www.ScarletKnights.com.
