Women’s Lacrosse Readies for No. 2 Maryland

Friday, April 6

College Park, MD

5:00PM

Rutgers University

Maryland

Apr 05 | Women's Lacrosse

Rutgers Notes Maryland Information Live Stats

Scarlet Knights close out 2018 regular season with four consecutive conference foes

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Closing out the regular season with four consecutive Big Ten Conference opponents and three against ranked foes, Rutgers women's lacrosse faces No. 2 Maryland on Friday night in College Park. The game, originally scheduled for Saturday, was moved up a day due to inclement weather expected for the region. Because of the change, the game will no longer stream live on BTN2Go.

The No. 2 Terrapins mark the first of three ranked opponents for the Scarlet Knights in the next few weeks, as RU is scheduled to face No. 8 Northwestern and No. 24 Johns Hopkins.

Last Time Out
Sophomore Samantha Budd produced a game-high five points with three goals and two assists, senior Paige Paratore added a hat trick and Rutgers earned a 12-9 victory over Lafayette 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 11 shots and scooped up three ground balls.

Scouting Maryland
The Terrapins enter Friday's matchup with a No. 2 ranking in the coaches' poll and winners of nine consecutive games after they suffered a 16-15 overtime loss to then-No. 8 North Carolina back in February. In their last time out, UMD earned a 15-8 win over No. 10 Virginia on Wednesday night in College Park.

Through 12 games, Megan Whittle leads the team and the Big Ten Conference with four goals per game, while Jen Giles has dished out a team-high 16 assists. Whittle has scored 48 goals this season and has contributed 59 points in 2018.

Megan Taylor has started all 12 games for Maryland in goal and owns a 9.68 GAA, .455 save percentage and 91 saves in 674 minutes of action. On defense, Lizzie Colson has caused 16 turnovers and scooped up 27 ground balls to lead the Terrapins in those categories.

The Series
Maryland leads the all-time series with Rutgers, 18-0. Last season, the Terrapins produced a 20-8 victory over the Scarlet Knights at High Point Solutions Stadium. Current players Brooks and senior Joanna Reilly each had two goals in last season's loss to UMD.

Tough 2018 Schedule
Rutgers possesses one of the toughest schedules in the country.

The Scarlet Knights have played No. 4 James Madison, No. 8 Penn, No. 18 Penn State and No. 21 Cornell in 2018, and are set to compete against No. 2 Maryland, No. 8 Northwestern and No. 24 Johns Hopkins to close out the regular season.

Stacking up Against the Big Ten
Senior Kerri Puckhaber is sixth in the conference with 1.00 assists per game and ninth with 2.83 points per game. Budd is tied for ninth with 2.00 goals per game and seventh with 3.8 draw controls per game within the Big Ten. Brooks is fifth in the Big Ten with 1.15 assists per game.

On defense, junior Regina Sharp is fourth in the Big Ten with 2.23 ground balls per game, while Kearns is tied for sixth at 2.00 per contest. Kearns is also third in the conference with 7.92 saves per game.

Navaroli Approaching 100 DC's
Senior captain Alana Navaroli secured two draw controls against Lafayette on Tuesday 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.

Paratore Filling the Stat Sheet
Paratore has produced nine multi-goal outings this season, the most for RU in 2018. Paratore has scored two or more goals in five of her last six games and has four hat tricks in 2018.

Historic Night for Casten
In RU's 14-8 win over Niagara on March 27, Casten tied the program mark for caused turnovers in a single game (seven), also held by Regan Teti (vs. Monmouth on March 20, 1998) and Kristin Checksfield (vs. Hofstra on March 15, 2003).

Next Time Out
The Scarlet Knights return home for a conference showdown with Michigan on Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m. ET. The game will broadcast nationally on BTN.

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers women's lacrosse, follow the program Facebook, and on Twitter and Instagram @RULaxBrand. Fans can receive timely information, including special offers and giveaways throughout the year on both social media outlets along with www.ScarletKnights.com.