HARRISONBURG, Va. – Despite a hat trick from sophomore Taralyn Naslonski and a tie score late in the second half, Rutgers women's lacrosse (4-4, 0-0) dropped a tight 10-7 contest with No. 7 James Madison (6-1, 0-0) Sunday afternoon in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
 
With the score tied 7-7 with less than eight minutes to go, the Dukes used a 3-0 scoring run to close out the game. The Scarlet Knights held the reigning NCAA champions under its 13.83 scoring average in the loss, as rookie Kameron Halsall tied her career high with 11 saves. RU also forced 14 JMU turnovers to keep the game close down the stretch.
 
Naslonski netted her team-high sixth hat trick, with all three goals coming in the first half. Junior Samantha Budd added three points on two assists and a score, while senior Allie Ferrara, redshirt junior Dakota Pastore and freshman Marin Hartshorn all added goals.
 
It was a back-and-forth first 30 minutes, with JMU taking a quick 2-0 lead to start the game. Rutgers responded with back-to-back goals, as Budd found Hartshorn and Pastore to tie the score 2-2 with 23:35 to go in the opening stanza.
 
The Dukes would go on a 3-0 scoring run from there, but the Scarlet Knights never faltered. Naslonski tallied consecutive unassisted scores, and Ferrara converted her goal off the restart for a 5-5 tie at the 8:47 mark in the first.
 
After James Madison regained the lead off the goal from Charlotte Haggerty, Naslonski raced down the field with seven seconds remaining in the half to bury her third of the game. The goal made it a 6-6 game at halftime.
 
Scoring was minimal out of the locker room, as Halsall tallied nine saves in the final 30 minutes to keep the Dukes off the scoreboard for the first 10 minutes of the second half.
 
Hanna Haven scored first with 19:35 to go to make it a 7-6 game, but more than 12 minutes would go by without an offensive tally. Budd would finally break the drought with her free-position attempt, as RU and James Madison were tied with less than eight minutes to go. However, James Madison used a 3-0 scoring run down the stretch to secure the win.
 
Up Next
Rutgers begins Big Ten Conference play when it hosts No. 5 Northwestern on Thursday, March 14 at 7 p.m.
 
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