PISCATAWAY, N.J. – RV Rutgers women's lacrosse (7-8, 1-5) lost to No. 4 James Madison (15-1, 5-0), 14-7, on Sunday afternoon at SHI Stadium. The Scarlet Knights trailed by just two goals midway through the third quarter, but the Dukes used a 6-0 scoring run down the stretch to secure the road win.

RU will now set its sites on the postseason, beginning with the Big Ten Tournament. Rutgers is the No. 6 seed and faces No. 3 seed Johns Hopkins on Saturday, April 29 in Baltimore, with the game time yet to be determined.

Prior to the game, Rutgers honored its 2023 senior class - Meghan Ball, Riley Ban, Jessica Beneducci, Jenna Byrne, Ashley Campo, Janey Galski, Marin Hartshorn, Lindsay Newton, Caroline Perry and Cassidy Spilis. The group has helped Rutgers to 40 victories, 14 wins over ranked opponents, the program's first-ever appearance in a Big Ten Tournament final, back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament wins during its time 'On the Banks'.

Hartshorn and Spilis led the Scarlet Knights with two goals apiece, while Byrne, Newton and rookie Ava Kane each added a score. On defense, Ball caused two turnovers to secure a career-high in caused turnovers with 55 on the season. Ball also added five draw controls in the loss.

"I really like how we started today. We were battling and putting a lot of shots on cage," said head coach Melissa Lehman. We were playing aggressively, but I think losing the draw control stat put us at a disadvantage. James Madison is a great team with a lot of players that can score."

JMU scored the first three goals of the afternoon before RU countered with a 3-0 scoring run of its own. Spilis netted back-to-back goals, while Hartshorn found Byrne with just 38 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to make it a 3-3 game heading into the second. James Madison added five consecutive goals before Kane's finish off a pass from junior Ashley Moynahan cut into the Dukes' lead at 8-4 at halftime.

Hartshorn provided Rutgers its offensive spark in the second half with back-to-back goals off passes from Byrne and junior Kate Carolonza. Carolonza's assist to Hartshorn made it just a two-goal game with 11:26 left in the third quarter. However, James Madison responded with four consecutive goals to close out the quarter and tallied two more in the fourth to hold on to the win.

Up Next
Rutgers faces Johns Hopkins on Saturday, April 29 in Baltimore to open the Big Ten Tournament. The game time will be determined in the coming days.