PHILADELPHIA – Rutgers women's lacrosse (3-3, 0-0) dropped an 18-12 contest to Drexel (2-2, 0-0) Saturday afternoon at Vidas Field in Philadelphia. Redshirt junior Dakota Pastore produced a career-high four goals, while Taralyn Naslonski contributed her fourth hat trick of the season in the loss.
 
Junior Samantha Budd, who finished the day with a team-high four points on two goals and two assists, became the seventh player in program history to secure 100 draw controls for her career with her three draw controls against the Dragons.
 
The Scarlet Knights outshot Drexel, 40-25, but goalkeeper Zoe Bennet produced 15 saves to help the home team secure the win. Lucy Schneidereith led the way with five goals for the Dragons, and teammate Colleen Grady contributed a game-high seven points on four goals and three assists.
 
It was a back-and-forth game in the first half, as back-to-back goals from seniors Abbey Brooks and Allie Ferrara made it a 2-1 game at the 22:49 mark. RU's biggest lead of the day came late in the opening period. Rookie Marin Hartshorn converted a free-position attempt, while Pastore's second goal – an unassisted strike – put Rutgers up, 7-5, with 5:32 left in the half.
 
The Dragons used a 5-0 scoring run to close out the first half with a 10-7 lead.
 
The Scarlet Knights fought hard out of the locker room, using a 3-1 scoring run to make it a one-goal game. Pastore converted back-to-back scoring attempts, and Budd netted an unassisted goal as RU trailed just 11-10 with 24 minutes to play. However, Drexel used a 7-2 run down the stretch to put the game out of reach.
 
Rutgers returns to HighPoint.com Stadium on Tuesday, March 5 to host Monmouth for a 6 p.m. matchup under the lights.