No. 23 Women's Lacrosse Set for Big Ten Semifinals against No. 10 Maryland Thursday in Columbus

Thursday, May 4

Columbus, Ohio

9 PM

Rutgers University

Maryland

No. 23 Women's Lacrosse Set for Big Ten Semifinals against No. 10 Maryland Thursday in Columbus

May 02 | Women's Lacrosse

Live Scoring Live Stream: Fox Sports App Game Notes: Big Ten Semifinals

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Fresh off its thrilling quarterfinal victory last weekend, No. 6 seed Rutgers women's lacrosse (8-8, 1-5) continues its postseason run against No. 2 seed Maryland (13-5, 4-2) on Thursday night in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. First draw from Columbus, Ohio is set for 8:30 p.m. ET with a national broadcast on Big Ten Network. The winner will face the winner of No. 1 seed Northwestern vs. No. 4 seed Michigan Saturday night in the Big Ten Championship.

The Scarlet Knights look to advance to the Big Ten Championship for the second consecutive season under head coach Melissa Lehman after they defeated No. 5 Northwestern to punch their ticket to last season's conference title game, hosted by RU in Piscataway.

Last Time Out

Rutgers knocked off No. 16 Johns Hopkins, 15-14, to advance in the Big Ten Tournament last Saturday in Baltimore. Down as many as three goals against the Blue Jays and trailing 9-8 at halftime, RU outscored the Blue Jays 7-5 in the second half and held off a late JHU scoring rally to secure its third win over a ranked opponent this season.
Senior Cassidy Spilis tallied a season-high seven points on five goals and two assists, surpassing current volunteer assistant Taralyn Naslonski for the most career goals in school history.
Spilis was one of three Scarlet Knights to secure five or more points, joining graduate student Marin Hartshorn (3G, 2A) and rookie Lily Dixon (2G, 3A). On defense, senior Meghan Ball caused a game-high four turnovers to go along with five draw controls and three ground balls, while junior goalkeeper Sophia Cardello stopped 11 shots for the win.
Ball secured the 300th draw control of her career and classmate Jessica Beneducci scooped the 100th ground ball of her career to help Rutgers to victory.

Postseason Resume

Rutgers looks to secure its spot in the NCAA Tournament field for the third consecutive season after reaching the national tournament once in the 43 years prior.
The Scarlet Knights are ranked No. 22 in the latest RPI with wins over three ranked opponents - No. 6 Stony Brook, No. 16 Johns Hopkins and No. 19 Jacksonville.
RU has played nine opponents this season either ranked or receiving votes in the latest IWLCA Coaches Poll - No. 1 Northwestern, No. 6 James Madison, No. 10 Maryland, No. 11 Stony Brook, No. 15 Army, No. 16 Michigan, No. 18 Johns Hopkins, No. 21 Penn State and RV Jacksonville.

Spilis RU's Top Scorer in School History

With her five goals last weekend at Johns Hopkins, Cassidy Spilis passed current volunteer assistant coach Taralyn Naslonski (2018-22) for the most goals scored in program history with 191.
Spilis also became the sixth Scarlet Knight in school history and the second this season to surpass 200 career points, joining Marin Hartshorn, who hit the 200-point mark last month.

Ball CT Leader

Ball leads the country with 3.69 caused turnovers per game.
Ball has caused 59 turnovers this season - resetting her school single-season record - and has produced three or more caused turnovers in 10 games during the spring campaign. Ball has tallied three or more caused turnovers 26 times during her historic career.
Ball is second among active leaders nationally with 153 career-caused turnovers. She is just three behind Sam Thacker of Denver with 156.
Ball is the program's all-time leader in caused turnovers (153) and draw controls (303), securing the program's individual records in both categories earlier this season in a 15-8 win over Georgetown at SHI Stadium.

More Career Milestones

Meghan Ball became the first player in school history to secure 300 career draw controls and she hit the mark last weekend at JHU.
Jessica Beneducci scooped up the 100th ground ball of her career in the win over the Blue Jays.

Statistical Leaders

Meghan Ball
- CTs-Per-Game: 3.69 (First B1G, First NCAA)
- GBs-Per-Game: 3.06 (First B1G, 12th NCAA)
- DCs-Per-Game: 6.06 (Third B1G, 24th NCAA)
Cassidy Spilis
- Goals: 46 (Fifth B1G)
- Goals-Per-Game: 2.88 (Fifth B1G, 48th NCAA)
Marin Hartshorn
- Assists: 26 (Fourth B1G)
- Assists-Per-Game: 1.62 (Fourth B1G)
- Points: 57 (Seventh B1G)
- Points-Per-Game: 3.56 (Seventh B1G)
Jenna Byrne
- Assists: 24 (Fifth B1G)
- Assists-Per-Game: 1.50 (Fifth B1G)
Sophia Cardello
- Saves-Per-Game: 9.00 (Second B1G, 27th NCAA)
- Saves: 144 (Third B1G, 31st NCAA)
- Save Percentage: .463 (Fifth B1G, 27th NCAA)
- Goals Against Average: 10.85 (Fifth B1G, 34th NCAA)

Scouting Maryland and Series History

The Terrapins enter Thursday after they defeated No. 7 seed Ohio State, 11-7, in the Big Ten quarterfinals last Saturday in College Park.
Libby May scored four goals, including her 50th of the season as she posted her 27th career hat trick. Kori Edmondson and Katie Sites each netted two goals.
Maryland earned the No. 2 seed after it went 4-2 in conference action during the regular season and is ranked No. 10 in the latest IWLCA Coaches Poll.
May is third in the Big Ten and 19th nationally with 53 goals on the season, while Eloise Clevenger leads the conference and is sixth in the NCAA with 44 helpers this spring.
UMD owns the second-best scoring defense in the league, allowing just 9.22 goals per game.
Maryland leads the all-time series with Rutgers, 24-1, which includes a 16-8 win over the Scarlet Knights this past March in Piscataway.
Thursday will be a rematch of last year's Big Ten Tournament final - an 18-8 win for the Terrapins on May 8, 2022 at SHI Stadium.