PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Down five goals in the fourth quarter, RV Rutgers women's lacrosse (7-7, 1-5) delivered a come-from-behind win in overtime over Ohio State (5-11, 0-6), 13-12, on Thursday night in Piscataway. With 49 seconds remaining in extra time, senior
Jenna Byrne found rookie
Lily Dixon for the game-winner at SHI Stadium.
The victory locked up the No. 6 seed for the Scarlet Knights in this year's Big Ten Tournament, with their opening-round matchup still set to be finalized when play begins on Saturday, April 29. The win was also RU's fifth consecutive over the Buckeyes in the all-time series.
Dixon finished with a career and game-high four goals in the win, with three of those scores coming during RU's 6-0 scoring run to end the game. Classmate
Ava Kane added a hat trick, while graduate student
Marin Hartshorn tallied the 200
th point of her career – becoming just the fifth Scarlet Knight in school history to hit the two-century mark. Rutgers' defense forced Ohio State into 17 turnovers, led by a game-high five caused turnovers from senior
Meghan Ball.
"This team found a way to pull this one out," said head coach
Melissa Lehman. "It was all Rutgers in that last quarter. We just kept getting a lot of possessions and we attacked the cage with so much confidence down the stretch. It is what we were looking for all game."
An Ohio State goal from Caly O'Brien with 14:15 left in the fourth quarter gave the visitors its largest lead of the game at 12-7. But Rutgers never faltered down the stretch, countering with a 5-0 scoring run to force overtime. Hartshorn started things off with an unassisted strike, followed by goals from Kane and Dixon in a three-minute span. RU then converted back-to-back free position attempts thanks to Dixon and senior
Cassidy Spilis, with Spilis' goal tying the game at 12-12 with 2:40 to play.
The Buckeyes would get what looked to be a clean look at the game winner on the following possession, but junior goalkeeper
Sophia Cardello fended off the one-vs.-one attempt from Nicole Ferrara for one of the best saves of her collegiate career. The stop gave RU back possession and forced overtime, where Byrne came from around cage to find Dixon for the winning score.
Dixon doubled her scoring total for the season with her team-high four goals, as the rookie connection of Dixon and Kane combined for seven of RU's 13 goals on the night.
"I am just so proud of my whole team," Dixon said. "Our defense came up huge and Cardello had one of the best one-vs.-one saves at the end of the game. I am just so proud of everyone and the way we finished."
It was a back-and-forth game all night at SHI Stadium, with five ties and five lead changes in the first half. Kane netted back-to-back goals to end the first quarter before a score from Jamie Level evened the score at 4-4 through the first 15 minutes of play. Ohio State would counter with a 4-1 scoring run in the second quarter, as the Buckeyes took an 8-5 lead into the locker room. Ohio State would hold RU to two goals in the third before the Scarlet Knights settled in for their first conference win of the season.
Up Next
Rutgers closes its regular season Sunday against No. 4 James Madison. First draw is set for 1 p.m. and will stream on Big Ten Plus. Sunday will be senior day, as the program will recognize its three graduate students and seven seniors before the game.
