VILLANOVA, Pa. – Senior captain Kerri Puckhaber, senior Paige Paratore and junior Allie Ferrara all secured hat tricks, but Rutgers women's lacrosse (4-4, 0-0) suffered a 18-12 loss to Villanova, (5-2, 0-0) Tuesday night at Villanova Park. Tied 6-6 at halftime, the Wildcats outscored the Scarlet Knights, 12-6, in the final 30 minutes to secure the win.
 
Junior Devon Kearns produced a career-high 15 saves, while junior Regina Sharp scooped up four ground balls in the loss. Off the bench, senior Nicole Kopyta added two scores.
 
A back-and-forth first half began with two Villanova goals, followed by a free-position goal from Paratore. The Wildcats would add two more before a quick 3-0 scoring run courtesy of an unassisted goal from Paratore and back-to-back scores from Ferrara made it a 4-4 game with 9:40 left in the half.
 
Villanova responded with a goal from Jillian Swikart, but Rutgers continued to trade punches. Ferrara completed her hat trick off the restart to tie the score, while sophomore Samantha Budd gave the Scarlet Knights their first lead of the game at 6-5 with 4:44 left in the opening period. Ferrara's three goals marked her second consecutive hat trick, as she also had three last Saturday against No. 7 James Madison.
 
Swikart's second goal of the game made it a 6-6 contest at halftime, as Kearns muscled six saves to help Rutgers in its defensive effort.
 
Villanova used a 6-0 scoring run out of the break to make it a 12-6 ball game before Kopyta buried her first goal of the night at the 20-minute mark to stop the Nova run. From there, both offenses continued to click, as Puckhaber registered three consecutive goals, with her third with 12:45 left to play making it just a 14-10 score.
 
However, the Wildcats ended the game on a 4-2 run to secure the out-of-conference win.
 
The Scarlet Knights begin Big Ten Conference action in their next time out, hosting No. 17 Penn State Saturday for a noon game at HPSS.
 
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