COLUMBUS, OHIO – No. 23 Rutgers women's lacrosse (8-9, 1-5) lost to No. 10 Maryland (14-5, 4-2), 15-9, in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals on Thursday night in Columbus, Ohio. The result ended the Scarlet Knights' 2023 season, as RU finished with three wins over ranked opponents and its third consecutive trip to the conference semifinals.
 
Rutgers defeated three ranked foes during the spring campaign – No. 6 Stony Brook, No. 16 Johns Hopkins, and No. 19 Jacksonville. The Scarlet Knights' come-from-behind win over JHU last weekend propelled RU to its third straight Big Ten Championships Semifinals after advancing to the conference championship a year ago.
 
Senior defender Meghan Ball finished with four draw controls, two ground balls and one caused turnovers, becoming­ just the second player in program history to produce 100 or more draw controls in a season twice. The unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection and Tewaaraton Award Top-25 finalist finished her senior season with a final stat line of 101 draw controls, 60 caused turnovers and 51 ground balls.
 
Graduate student Marin Hartshorn tallied four goals against the Terrapins to close out her historic collegiate career with 213 points, 119 goals, 91 assists and 168 draw controls. Rookie Ava Kane added a hat trick, while senior Jenna Byrne dished out three helpers.

In cage, junior goalkeeper Sophia Cardello finished with 10 saves, surpassing 400 for her career.
 
The Terrapins – ranked No. 10 in the latest IWLCA Coaches Poll – used a 6-0 scoring run in the first quarter to build a commanding lead over the Scarlet Knights. RU would hold UMD to four goals in the second half, as a score from Hartshorn a few minutes before the half making it a 10-1 game at the midway point.
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Rutgers won the third quarter, scoring the first two goals out of the locker room, with senior Byrne finding Hartshorn at the 14:03 mark in the third quarter. Senior Cassidy Spilis followed with an unassisted score five minutes later to make it a 10-3 contest. Hartshorn would close the quarter with her third goal of the night, but a score from Maryland gave the No. 2 seed a 12-4 advantage with 15 minutes to play.
 
RU once again outscored the Terrapins in the fourth quarter, 5-3, with Kane scoring three times down the stretch. But Maryland would hold on to advance.