PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 15 Rutgers women's lacrosse (3-3) hosts No. 3 Northwestern (5-0) for two games this weekend at SHI Stadium. The Scarlet Knights host the Wildcats on Friday at 1 p.m. ET and on Sunday at noon, with both games set to stream via BTNPlus.
• In accordance with the executive order issued by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday, Rutgers Athletics will increase spectator capacity at its venues effective immediately. Two parents or guardians of each student-athlete will be permitted to attend sporting events held on campus, while the total number of spectators are not to exceed 35 percent of the venue's total capacity.
• Parking for 2021 women's lacrosse home games is free for approved guests, but visitors must register their vehicle with the University through this
link. Visitors only need to register their vehicle once for the entire season. Parking for 2021 home games is located in the Scarlet Lot outside the West entrance of SHI Stadium.
• RU dropped a pair of games at No. 21 Michigan two weekends ago, which included a 12-11 overtime loss on March 5 in Ann Arbor.
• After its bye week, Rutgers moved up to No. 15 in the latest IWLCA Coaches poll. It marks the fourth consecutive week the Scarlet Knights are ranked by the coaches after reaching as high as No. 14 two polls ago.
• Under second-year head coach
Melissa Lehman, RU has already earned its most regular season wins in Big Ten Conference play since joining the league in 2015.
• Sophomore
Cassidy Spilis was named to the Tewaaraton Award watch list last week, becoming the first Rutgers women's lacrosse player on the prestigious roll call since Katie Batiuk in 2007. Through six games, Spilis leads the team and is 12th nationally with 21 goals and has also produced team highs in points (23), ground balls (14) and caused turnovers (12) this season.
• Senior
Taralyn Naslonski enters the weekend with 99 career goals. In six games, the captain has produced 13 goals and five assists.
• Sophomore
Meghan Ball has established herself as one of the top defenders in the conference, as she is eighth in the Big Ten with 1.50 caused turnovers per game. Ball also leads the team with 25 draw controls.
• Sophomore
Jenna Byrne leads the team and is fourth in the Big Ten with eight assists.
• Sophomore netminder
Alonna Gliksman has earned three wins this season with a 12.10 goals against average and a .425 save percentage.
• The Wildcats enter the weekend with the nation's top scoring offense at 19.80 goals per game. In their last time out, Northwestern swept then-No. 5 Penn State last weekend by margins of 24-13 and 17-13. NU is 5-0 for the first time since 2012.
• Northwestern features prolific scorer Izzy Scane, who leads the Big Ten and is second nationally with 27 goals through five games.
• Lauren Gilbert is the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after she netted a career-high seven goals against Penn State.
• Erin Coykendall leads the conference and is 15th nationally with 11 helpers.
• Goalkeeper Madison Doucette leads the conference with a .434 save percentage and 9.85 goals against average.
• Northwestern leads the all-time series, 12-0, which includes a 23-13 win over Rutgers in the schools' last meeting on March 14, 2019 in Piscataway.
Rutgers gets another bye week before it faces No. 9 Maryland (Thurs., April 8) and Johns Hopkins (Sunday, April 11) on the road.
