PRINCETON, N.J. – No. 22 Rutgers women's lacrosse (4-1) suffered its first loss of the season to No. 23 Princeton (2-1), 13-10, on Wednesday night at Sherrerd Field. Graduate student Cassidy Spilis tallied a team-high five goals, six ground balls, six draw controls and three caused turnovers in the loss.
 
Battling steady rain throughout the night, the Scarlet Knights held a 4-1 lead before the Tigers rallied back to outscore RU, 12-6, in the final three quarters. RU cut Princeton's lead to three goals twice in the fourth quarter, but the Tigers would maintain steady possession in the final 10 minutes for the out-of-conference win.
 
Spilis netted five goals, including three in the first half, for her third five-plus scoring outing of the season. Rookie Payton Tini added two goals, while sophomore Lily Dixon dished out a team-high two assists.
 
Senior goalkeeper Sophia Cardello knotted a season-high 11 saves in her first loss of the season. Rutgers earned a slight 32-31 shot advantage and drew even in the center circle, 13-13.
 
Spilis forced a turnover on Princeton's initial possession, setting up Rutgers' first goal off a spin move from Tini with 12:17 in the opening quarter. The Scarlet Knights then responded to the Tigers' first score with a feed from Dixon to Goldrick, who finished with 7:59 on the clock in the first quarter to put RU back on top, 2-1.
 
Goldrick's score sparked a 3-0 scoring run for the Scarlet Knights over the next three minutes of play. Spilis finished a free position attempt and followed with a cleanup goal a minute later to put Rutgers up 4-1 with 4:38. Princeton countered with its own 3-0 scoring run to close out the first and tie the game at 4-4 heading into the first break.
 
The Tigers earned their first lead of the night and handed RU its first deficit of the season after they converted a free position attempt a minute into the second quarter for a 5-4 lead. Princeton added one more before a stretch of 11 minutes of scoreless play, which was ended by another goal from the Tigers to make it 7-4 with 3:23 left before half.
 
Spilis finally broke Princeton's scoring run with her third of the night at the 2:10 mark in the quarter. It secured Spilis' fourth hat trick of the season and made it 7-5 at halftime.
 
Princeton continued to take advantage of scoring opportunities, outscoring the Scarlet Knights, 5-2, in the third quarter for a 12-7 lead after 45 minutes of play. Goldrick found sophomore Kayleigh Coughlin and senior Ashley Moynahan slashed her way for her first of the night, while Cardello tallied three saves in the final minute of the quarter to make it a five-goal game with 15 to play.
 
Rutgers continued to cut into Princeton's lead. Tini and Spilis netted back-to-back goals, with Spilis' fourth on the player-up opportunity making it just a 12-9 game with 11:08 to play. However, Princeton would keep the Scarlet Knights off the board in the final 11 minutes of play to hold on to the win.
 
Up Next
Rutgers is set for its first of three nationally televised games during the regular season when it hosts Oregon on Sunday, March 3 at SHI Stadium. First draw is at noon and will broadcast on Big Ten Network.