PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women's lacrosse is heading to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Scarlet Knights open tournament play against Saint Joseph's on Friday, May 13 in Stony Brook, New York. The winner will face the winner of Stony Brook and Drexel on Sunday, May 15.
Ticket information for this weekend's game will be made available later on. Rutgers is one of five Big Ten programs to advance to the NCAA Tournament, as it joins No. 2 seeded Maryland, No. 4 seeded Northwestern, Johns Hopkins and Michigan.
After competing in the NCAA Tournament just once in its first 44 years as a varsity program, Rutgers has now advanced to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons. The Scarlet Knights registered their first-ever NCAA Tournament win last May when it defeated No. 10 Drexel in Stony Brook, New York. RU also qualified for NCAAs in 1999.
Rutgers has enjoyed its most successful season since it began varsity play in 1977, securing a program-record 15 victories while advancing to its first Big Ten Tournament final since it began league play in 2015. The Scarlet Knights delivered four Big Ten victories during the regular season, downed five ranked opponents, and registered its first ever win over a top-5 opponent when it defeated No. 4 Northwestern last Friday in the Big Ten semifinals. RU remained ranked in both the IWLCA Coaches Poll and USA Lacrosse Top 20 throughout the entire season and appeared as high as No. 12 in the country.
Five student-athletes –
Meghan Ball (first team),
Taralyn Naslonski (first team),
Cassidy Spilis (first team),
Jessica Beneducci (second team and
Stephanie Kelly (second) team – earned All-Big Ten laurels, with Ball and Spilis becoming the first unanimous first team selections in program history. Ball and Spilis were named to the Tewaaraton Award watch list to begin the season, while Spilis earned Tewaaraton Top-25 recognition – the first player at Rutgers to achieve the feat.
Several individual program records fell during the season, as Naslonski became the program's all-time leader in points (255) and goals (181). Spilis set the team's single season record for goals in a season (65), while Naslonski (60) and Spilis made it the first time RU has had to players go over both 50 and 60 goals in the same season. Kelly – an impact graduate transfer from Saint Joseph's – set the program's single-season assist record with 39 and tallied the 300th point of her career.
