PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Despite a career-high seven points and six goals from rookie
Taralyn Naslonski, Rutgers women's lacrosse (7-10, 1-5 Big Ten) dropped a hard-fought 16-11 result to No. 25 Johns Hopkins (10-7, 3-3) on Saturday afternoon at High Point Solutions Stadium. The loss eliminated the Scarlet Knights from qualifying for the Big Ten Tournament.
RU outshot JHU, 36-32, secured 19 ground balls to the opponents' 14 and forced the Blue Jays into 10 turnovers in the back-and-forth affair. Senior
Joanna Reilly contributed two goals to complement Naslonski's record day, while classmate
Alana Navaroli collected six draw controls in the loss.
Prior to the game, RU honored its eight seniors – Navaroli, Reilly,
Amanda Casten,
Bianca Dente,
Nicole Kopyta,
Paige Paratore,
Kerri Puckhaber and
Sydney Quinn.
"I thought we had a really good game and fought really hard," said head coach
Laura Brand Sias. "On offense, it wasn't as smooth and crisp as we would have liked, but that didn't cause them to stop. We still fought. Obviously, we wanted to send the seniors out with a postseason berth, and that's not what happened today and we're disappointed. But we're super proud of them and excited to watch them grow in the future and be proud alumni."
Hopkins scored twice before Reilly took a pass from junior
Dana Gisonno and scored to make it a 2-1 game at the 26:07 mark in the first half. Reilly scored again before Naslonski went to work with three consecutive goals. The Randolph, New Jersey native scored on an unassisted strike, netted a free position attempt and then converted an assist from junior
Abbey Brooks to give RU a 5-3 lead with 15:24 left in the period.
Hopkins closed out the half on a 4-0 scoring run to make it a 7-5 game in favor of the visitor heading into the locker room.
The first 15 minutes in the second half proved to be a back-and-forth battle, initiated by Naslonski's fourth goal of the day and first of the second period at the 25:35 mark. Mackenzie Heldberg would counter Naslonski's goal, but back-to-back goals from Quinn and Naslonski tied the game at 8-8 with 21:36 to go.
The Blue Jays would respond with a 3-0 scoring run before sophomore
Samantha Budd's 30
th goal of the season made it an 11-9 ballgame with just under 15 minutes to play. Both teams would again trade goals before Johns Hopkins produced another 4-0 scoring run to close out its win.
Knight Notes
• Naslonski collected a career-high seven points and six goals, earning her fifth multi-goal outing of the season and her fourth game with three or more goals in 2018.
• With her six draw controls, Navaroli finished her career tied for fifth all-time with Jenny Vlahos, as both produced 114 during their time with the program.
• Budd finished with 54 draw controls in 2018, good for fifth in program single-season history.
• Budd and Paratore each finished with 30 goals to lead the team in 2018. Budd and Puckhaber also finished as the team's points leaders with 37 each.
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