PISCATAWAY, N.J. – RV Rutgers women's lacrosse (4-7, 0-5) lost to No. 2 Northwestern (12-1, 4-0), 16-6, on Thursday night at SHI Stadium. The Scarlet Knights scored the first goal of the night, but the Wildcats – who entered the night with the top scoring offense in the country – used a 30-17 shooting advantage and an 8-1 scoring run at the end of the game to secure the Big Ten Conference victory.

Senior Cassidy Spilis netted a hat trick in the loss, moving past Heather Jones (1991-94) for second in program history in career goals scored with 175. Spilis needs just 13 goals to pass current volunteer assistant coach Taralyn Naslonski (2018-22) for the most in school history. Spilis also secured the 200th draw control and 100th ground ball of her career Thursday night against Northwestern.
 
Playing its fourth consecutive ranked opponent, RU held the Wildcats to just a 14-12 advantage on the draw, forced 14 turnovers and held NU to below its season shooting average with 30 shots on the night. Senior defender Meghan Ball once again filled up the stat sheet with seven draw controls, six caused turnovers and four ground balls. The nation's leader in caused turnovers, Ball has now caused three or more turnovers eight times this spring and 24 times during her historic career.

"I am really proud of my team," said head coach Melissa Lehman. "We stayed in the game for a long time and felt a lot closer than the score reflected. We came out with a high level of intensity, which I was really happy about. We just turned it over and did not capitalize on as many shots as we could of at the end of the game."

Senior Ashley Campo produced three points on two assists and a goal, graduate student Marin Hartshorn added two points while junior Ashley Moynahan also scored in the loss.
 
Rutgers scored the first goal of the primetime matchup, as sophomore Emalie Clothier found Hartshorn at the 14:13 mark in the quarter for the quick 1-0 lead. Moynahan also found the back of the cage in the quarter, as Northwestern owned a 5-2 lead after the first 15 minutes of action.
 
The Wildcats scored back-to-back goals to begin the second quarter for a 7-2 lead before senior Ashley Campo countered off a pass from Hartshorn. NU would add another score down the stretch for an 8-3 lead at halftime. Ball caused three turnovers and secured five draw controls before the break to lead the defensive effort into the locker room.

Campo and Spilis sparked Rutgers' offense out of the break, as Campo found Spilis for back-to-back scores to make it just a 8-5 game in favor of Northwestern with 6:51 left in the third quarter. The Wildcats would respond with three consecutive goals to end the quarter and closed the game on an 8-1 scoring run to secure the road win.

Up Next
Rutgers hosts No. 6 Stony Brook on Wednesday, April 12 at SHI Stadium. The game is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET start on Big Ten Network.