ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Despite a second-half hat trick from junior Samantha Budd and a late comeback attempt, Rutgers women's lacrosse (5-9, 0-4) suffered a 12-8 loss to No. 8 Michigan (14-1, 4-1) on Saturday in Ann Arbor. Down by as much as five goals in the final 30 minutes, the Scarlet Knights got the game within two before the hosts pulled away down the stretch for the Big Ten Conference win.
 
Budd netted her sixth hat trick of the season, with all three goals coming in the second half. Rookie Camryn Rogers had a career-high four points on two goals and two assists, while senior Abbey Brooks, sophomore Taralyn Naslonski and freshman Marin Hartshorn all added goals in the loss. Redshirt freshman Kameron Halsall produced 11 saves.
 
It marked the first loss for the program all-time against Michigan, as RU held a 4-0 advantage over the Wolverines prior to Saturday's matchup.
 
Naslonski was the first to score for Rutgers, as she converted an unassisted strike to tie the game 1-1 at the 27 minute mark in the opening period. From there, Michigan went on a 4-0 scoring run before Naslonski found Brooks to make it 5-2 with 14 minutes to play in the half. The Wolverines added three more goals down the stretch in the final minutes of the half, but goals from Hartshorn and Rogers made it just an 8-4 game heading into the locker room.
 
Michigan scored first in the second half, but RU rattled off three consecutive goals to make it interesting down the stretch. All three score came from Budd, whose free position conversion with 10:26 left in the game made it just 9-7 in favor of the host. However, the Wolverines used a 3-1 scoring run to close out the conference win.
 
Rutgers returns to action next Saturday when it hosts Ohio State for Senior Day at noon.
 
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