PHILADELPHIA  – Erasing a three-goal deficit late in the second half, Rutgers women's lacrosse (2-0, 0-0) defeated Temple (1-1, 0-1), 13-11, on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. Down 11-8 with 15 minutes to play, the Scarlet Knights closed the game on a 5-0 scoring run, including the game-winning strike from junior Taralyn Naslonski in the closing minutes to secure RU's first 2-0 start since the 2014 season.
 
The win snapped a five-game losing streak to Temple, with the last victory over the Owls also coming in 2014. Rookie Cassidy Spilis led the way with a career-high four goals, while Naslonski contributed a hat trick to go along with her season-high five points. Naslonski needs just three more points (67 goals, 30 assists) to become the 25^th player in program history to reach 100 points for her career.
 
Senior captains Samantha Budd and Dakota Pastore also registered multiple goals for the Scarlet Knights. Rookie Jenna Byrne contributed three points (2 A, 1 G) and junior Julia Lytle added a tally off the bench to help RU to its non-conference road win.
 
In the back-and-forth affair that featured multiple lead changes, Rutgers forced Temple into 20 turnovers. In just her second collegiate contest, rookie Alonna Gliksman recorded a game-high 12 saves, including eight stops in the second half for her second consecutive victory.
 
It was all Rutgers during the first six minutes of the afternoon, as the Scarlet Knights jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. Naslonski converted a free position attempt for the first goal of the game, Spilis took a pass from Byrne to find the back of the net and a forced turnover by Budd on the following possession led to another goal from Naslonski. RU would add another – a strike from Byrne – before Temple stopped the run at the 24:52 mark in the half.
 
The Owls countered with a 3-1 scoring run of their own, with Meghan Hoffman's free-position goal at the 14:23 mark making it a 5-3 game in favor of Rutgers. No scoring occurred over the next 10 minutes of action, with the scoring drought broken by a free position goal from Lytle that gave RU a 6-3 lead with just over four minutes to go in the half. Temple added a fourth goal before the break to make it 6-4 at halftime.
 
Gliksman finished the first half with four saves, as RU forced Temple into 13 turnovers in the first 30 minutes of action.
 
Temple was the aggressor out of the locker room, as it scored five unanswered goals in the first seven minutes of the second half. Jen Rodzewich contributed two scores during the stretch, as the Owls led 9-6 with 20 minutes to go in the game. Pastore ended the scoring drought for the Scarlet Knights, as she took a pass from Naslonski at the 19:09 mark in the half to make it 9-7 in favor of Temple. Temple would add two more over the next four minutes to increase its lead, 11-8.
 
Trailing by three goals with 15:48 to play, RU began its comeback. Budd took Byrne's impressive pass from behind the TU cage and found the back of the net to make it just 11-9 at the 12 minute mark. Gliksman then made an impressive stop to send the Scarlet Knights back on the counter. From there, junior Hannah Hollingsworth found Spilis for her fourth goal of the day to make it 11-10 with just under 10 minutes to go.
 
After back-and-forth possessions, it was Pastore who would even the score. After a blocked shot from Budd, Pastore exploded from the top of the zone off the restart and converted to tie the score at 11 with 6:55 left on the scoreboard. The goal forced Temple to take a timeout, but Rutgers remained aggressive out of the break.
 
Naslonski took a free position shot with 5:46 left to give RU its first lead since early in the second half, while Budd iced the game with her free position attempt at 4:19. From there, Rutgers used its defense to prevent a Temple comeback.
 
Next Up
Rutgers returns home to face Delaware on Saturday (Feb. 15) for a noon matchup at SHI Stadium.
 
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