PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 16 Rutgers women's lacrosse (6-8) opens the 2021 NCAA Tournament with its first-round matchup against No. 10 Drexel (13-2) on Friday in Stony Brook, New York. The contest is slated for a 4 p.m. ET draw at LaValle Stadium on the campus of Stony Brook and will stream via ESPN+. WRSU (88.7 FM) will also provide radio coverage of the game.
Friday's winner will face the winner of Towson and host No. 8 Stony Brook on Sunday, May 16 at noon ET in the second round. The Scarlet Knights' opening-round game marks the first time since 1999 and just the second time in program history RU will compete at the NCAA Tournament as it looks for its first-ever NCAA postseason victory.
• Rutgers' selection into the 2021 NCAA Tournament field ended a 22-year postseason drought for the program, as the program's first and only appearance at the NCAA Tournament came at the end of the 1999 season.
• A win Friday would mark the first NCAA Tournament victory for the program, with its other tournament appearance resulting in a 14-3 loss to James Madison back in 1999.
• With the Rutgers men's lacrosse team also competing in its respective NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004, it marks the first time in school history both programs will play NCAA Tournament games in the same season.
• Rutgers' bowed out of the Big Ten Tournament with its 24-14 semifinal loss to No. 2 and eventual Big Ten Champion Northwestern on April 30 in University Park, Pa. The Scarlet Knights out-drew the Wildcats, 24-16, held ties in both halves and saw a career-high nine goals from sophomore
Cassidy Spilis in the loss to Northwestern, who entered the game with the nation's top scoring offense.
• RU secured its second trip to the Big Ten Semifinals in program history with its 19-13 victory over No. 23 Ohio State in the quarterfinals. Junior
Marin Hartshorn was one of four Scarlet Knights to secure hat tricks against the Buckeyes, as she and Spilis were named to the All-Big Ten Tournament Team.
• Ranked No. 16 in the final IWLCA Coaches Poll, the Scarlet Knights secured six victories over Big Ten Conference foes and five over ranked opponents thus far in 2021 – both program records.
• Under second-year head coach
Melissa Lehman, RU's resume included the program's first-ever wins over Johns Hopkins, Maryland and Penn State as well as three victories over Ohio State.
• Spilis was named IWLCA Division I Offensive Player of the Week after she combined for 14 draw controls and 13 goals during Rutgers' two games against No. 2 Northwestern and No. 23 Ohio State at the Big Ten Tournament.
• Four Scarlet Knights – Spilis, sophomore
Meghan Ball, senior
Taralyn Naslonski and senior
Dana Pena – were named 2021 All-Big Ten. Ball and Spilis earned first team selections, while Naslonski and Pena collected second team laurels.
• In addition to their first-team all-conference honors, Ball and Spilis were both named Midseason All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse and Tewaaraton Award Watch List recipients. Spilis finished fourth in the Big Ten and 37th nationally with 3.29 goals per game, while Ball finished third in the Big Ten and 30th nationally with 1.79 caused turnovers per game.
• With her 165 career points on 115 goals and 50 assists, Naslonski is currently seventh all-time in points scored at Rutgers. She needs seven points to move past Marilyn Reilly (1982-85) for sixth on the all-time list.
• Hartshorn needs seven draw controls to earn 100 for her career. She is currently ninth in program history with 93 draws in her first three seasons.
• Drexel makes its NCAA Tournament debut after it received an at-large bid. The Dragons finished its historic season with a 13-2 record and an appearance in the CAA Championships game, where it lost in double-overtime to James Madison.
• Drexel closed the regular season with a seven-game winning streak and a No. 10 ranking in the final IWLCA Coaches Poll.
• The Dragons captured three CAA postseason awards, including Mary Semanik head coach, Jill Batcheller for CAA Coach of the Year, senior midfielder Karson Harris for CAA Player of the Year and senior goalkeeper Zoe Bennett for CAA Goaltender of the Year.
• Harris, a Tewaaraton Award Top-25 nominee, broke the program record for most goals in a single season (55), reached the 100 career-goal mark and led the league in goals per game (4.23), ground balls per game (2.54) and draw controls per game (5.54).
• Bennett faced 354 shots, recorded a .480 save percentage and 120 had total saves in 756:30 minutes in net for the Dragons. She is currently 17th nationally in save percentage.
• This will be the ninth meeting in the all-time series, which is tied 4-4. Drexel won the last meeting between the two schools when it defeated Rutgers, 18-12, on March 2, 2019 in Philadelphia.
