PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Senior captain Kerri Puckhaber and sophomore Samantha Budd each produced four goals, junior Abbey Brooks dished out three assists and Rutgers women's lacrosse (3-1, 0-0) earned its third consecutive win with a 14-10 victory over Delaware (1-2, 0-0) Saturday afternoon at High Point Solution Stadium.
 
Senior Paige Paratore and junior Dana Gisonno each contributed two goals for the Scarlet Knights, who outshot the Blue Hens, 38-27. Senior captain Alana Navaroli produced a season-high 10 draw controls to help RU win the draw control battle over Delaware, 18-9, and junior Devon Kearns muscled nine saves for her third win of the season.

VICTORY! Samantha Budd and Kerri Puckhaber each scored four goals to lead #RUWLax to a 14-10 win over Delaware! pic.twitter.com/Rj3Uvu7GKE

— Rutgers Women's Lax (@rulaxbrand) February 24, 2018

RU also forced 13 Delaware turnovers and outscored the Blue Hens, 5-2, in the final 20 minutes of the contest to secure the program's first win over Delaware in its past four outings.
 
Budd, who contributed five points towards the final result, has now scored 10 goals in her last two games and now leads the team with 12 goals through RU's first four contests.
 
"I think we did really nice things in runs," said head coach Laura Brand Sias. "In the beginning, Delaware had a hard time figuring out our defense, and that was because our defense was strong. We gave up some runs due to poor decision making in the first half, and we possessed the momentum in parts and lost it. However, we were able to get it back, which was good, and we will be able to build off that moving forward."
 
Rutgers raced out to a 3-0 run, as the offense ran through Budd. Brooks found Budd for the first goal of the contest at the 24:33 mark, while Budd followed with two consecutive free position strikes to make it 3-0 Scarlet Knights with 22:28 left in the half.
 
Delaware was finally able to respond with a goal at the 21-minute mark in the half, as both teams traded goals down the stretch in the final 20 minutes of the opening period. Brooks found Puckhaber for her first goal of the afternoon, while a Puckhaber goal off a dish from Paratore made it 5-2 Rutgers midway through the half.
 
After a goal from Delaware's Sarah Bedard, RU muscled a 3-1 scoring run to close out its offense in the second half. Goals from Brooks, Paratore and Budd put Rutgers up 8-4 with seven minutes left. The Blue Hens responded with back-to-back goals down the stretch, but Rutgers entered the locker room at halftime with an 8-6 lead.
 
Delaware got to within one after Claire D'Antonio found the back of the cage to make it a 9-8 contest with 21:01 left on the clock. But after regrouping, the Scarlet Knights earned back the momentum with a 5-2 scoring run to close out the game.
 
Paratore was the first to score during the stretch, courtesy of a free position attempt. Puckhaber then followed with her fourth goal of the day to put Rutgers up 11-8 with 18 seconds left.
 
Following a Blue Hen Goal, Gissono helped put the game out of reach with back-to-back strikes. Her second, off of Brook's third assist of the day, made it a 13-9 score with just six minutes remaining. Delaware would add one more late, but it was not enough as RU walked out of HPSS with the out-of-conference victory.
 
 Rutgers returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 28, when the Scarlet Knights travel to Philadelphia to play No. 14 UPenn at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Postgame Notes
- The win over Delaware was the first for the program since defeating the Blue Hens, 7-4, on March 1, 2018 at home. 
- Sophomore Samantha Budd has now scored 10 goals in her last two games and has produced 12 goals this season. She now leads the program with 15 points in 2018.
- Senior Alana Navaroli's 10 draw controls were the most for her in a single game since she secured 12 last season to tie the school record against Manhattan.
- Navaroli is now eight all-time in draw controls for her career with 81. She needs 10 more to pass Pearl Park for seventh with 91 for her career.
- Junior Dana Gisonno as now scored two or more goals in two of her last three games. 
- Senior Kerri Puckhaber's four goals were a single-game career high. She now has three straight games with two or more goals to start 2018.
 
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