PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Sophomore
Samantha Budd produced a game-high five points with three goals and two assists, senior
Paige Paratore added a hat trick and Rutgers women's lacrosse (6-7, 0-2) earned a 12-9 victory over Lafayette (4-7, 1-2) on Tuesday night in Piscataway.
Budd filled up the stat sheet in the win over the Leopards, adding five draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover to go along with her fourth hat trick of 2018. Junior
Abbey Brooks and freshman
Taralyn Naslonski each collected two goals for the Scarlet Knights, while senior
Kerri Puckhaber and junior
Dana Gisonno also contributed goals.
On defense, RU forced Lafayette into 21 turnovers, as senior
Amanda Casten led the way with two caused. In cage, junior
Devon Kearns saved nine shots and scooped up three ground balls.
"We're always going to be happy with the win," said head coach
Laura Brand Sias. "I think we wanted to be a little less nervous towards the end to get a more solid performance for 60 minutes, but we got it done and we were good enough to win. So we'll be happy with this one."
The Leopards were the first to strike, but RU quickly responded with a 3-0 scoring burst. The Scarlet Knights demonstrated their strong play off fast-break opportunities Tuesday night with their first goal, as Budd corralled the draw control, sprinted down field and found Puckhaber up ahead for the score.
Puckhaber returned the favor with her assist to Brooks off the Lafayette turnover, while Budd's unassisted strike made it a 3-1 contest with 22:30 left to play in the half.
The visitor managed another goal before Gisonno answered with a free-position conversion at the 17:03 mark in the half. Budd netted her second of the night by cutting through a host of defenders for the unassisted goal, while Paratore's first of the game made it a 6-3 score at halftime.
Rutgers forced 13 Lafayette turnovers in the first 30 minutes of the game and outshot its opponent, 11-8, in the opening stanza.
It was all Scarlet Knights out of the locker room, as they sprinted out with a 3-0 run. Providing a spark off the bench, Naslonski made an impressive move to get herself open for her unassisted goal. Back-to-back solo scores from Paratore and Budd stretched RU's lead to 9-3 with 22:44 remaining, forcing the Leopards to call a timeout.
Lafayette snuck back into the game, courtesy of a 4-1 run to make it just 10-7 with just under 15 minutes to play. However, RU never relented down the stretch. Off the draw control, Budd found Brooks for the score on the next possession, while Paratore's third goal of the night extended RU's lead, 12-8. Lafayette added one more, but Rutgers held on for its fourth home win of the season.
Rutgers closes out the season with four consecutive Big Ten Conference games, including three against ranked foes, when it travels to College Park to take on No. 2 Maryland on Saturday at noon ET.
Knight Notes
• Rutgers improved to 11-7 all-time against Lafayette, which includes wins in five of the last six outings with the Leopards dating back to 2000.
• Senior captain
Alana Navaroli secured two draw controls against Lafayette and now has 96 for her career. With four more, she will become just the sixth Scarlet Knight in program history with 100 or more draw controls for her career.
• Puckhaber recorded her 75
th-career point tonight, while Budd earned the 70
th of her career.
• Paratore produced her team-leading ninth multi-goal outing of 2018 with her three goals Tuesday night and has now produced four hat tricks this season.
• Budd now leads the team with 26 goals this season and has four hat tricks in 2018.
• Kearns has notched nine or more saves in five of her last seven games.
• Casten has caused multiple turnovers in five of her last six outings, which includes a program-record seven caused turnovers on March 27 against Niagara.
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