PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Senior captain
Kerri Puckhaber and freshman
Taralyn Naslonski posted hat tricks, but Rutgers women's lacrosse (4-5, 0-1) suffered a 18-13 loss to No. 17 Penn State (6-3, 1-0) Saturday afternoon at High Point Solutions Stadium. Despite the Scarlet Knights outscoring PSU in the second half, the Nittany Lions were able to leave Piscataway with a win.
Senior
Joanna Reilly contributed multiple goals off the bench, while five others found the back of the cage during the first conference game of the season. Four Scarlet Knights caused multiple turnovers, while redshirt junior
Christine DiLullo produced a team-high three ground balls. Senior
Paige Paratore led the way with six draw controls, while junior
Regina Sharp muscled five.
"We definitely had moments where we put it all together, but against a high-quality opponent, we need more of those," said head coach
Laura Brand Sias. "With another quality opponent coming up, we will put in solid work this week and be a better team on Thursday."
After trailing 10-3 at halftime, RU outscored Penn State, 10-8, in the final 30 minutes of the game. Naslonski buried all three of her goals in the second half, with her unassisted strike with under five minutes to go sparking a 4-1 scoring run to close out the game. Sharp, Puckhaber and sophomore
Samantha Budd all had goals during the stretch.
Rutgers hits the road for its next time out, facing Ohio State Thursday night in Columbus.
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