COLUMBUS, Ohio. – Rutgers women's lacrosse (7-8, 1-5) earned a come-from-behind 13-11 victory at Ohio State (7-8, 1-5) on Thursday night in Columbus. Down as many as five goals at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium, the Scarlet Knights outscored the Buckeyes, 9-4, in the second half to complete the road rally and secure the No. 6 seed in next weekend's Big Ten Conference Tournament when the quarterfinals begin on Saturday, April 27.
Graduate student
Cassidy Spilis sparked a 6-1 scoring run for RU in the final 13 minutes of the game with three of her game-high five goals during the stretch to become the program's all-time points scorer with 269 during her illustrious career. Spilis finished with five goals, six draw controls, four ground balls and two caused turnovers, also becoming the second player in program history to hit 300 career draw controls.
Senior goalkeeper
Sophia Cardello produced one of her best collegiate performances thanks to a season-high 12 saves on 34 shots faced. It marked Cardello's eighth double-digit save outing, with her 12 stops helping RU's defense hold OSU's offense to just two goals apiece in the third and fourth quarters.
Junior
Alexa Corbin contributed a hat trick for her third three-plus point game in her last four appearances. Rookie
Payton Tini netted two goals, junior
Michelle Warren scored a goal and dished out an assist, while sophomore
Ava Chiarella and Freshman
Reese Robinson both added goals. Sophomore
Lily Dixon – the hero in last year's overtime win against the Buckeyes thanks to her game-winning goal – found Spilis for the game-winner in tonight's matchup.
Robinson was the first to score for Rutgers, converting a free-position attempt with 1:47 left in the opening quarter for her ninth goal of the season. Cardello stopped five shots in the opening 15 minutes and allowed just one goal as the game sat tied 1-1 ahead of the second quarter.
The Buckeyes produced a 3-0 scoring run to open the next quarter before Tini's 14
th goal of the year cut into OSU's lead at 4-2 at the 8:05 mark in the second. Ohio State countered with another 3-0 scoring run before RU netted back-to-back scores. Corbin drew a foul and converted a free position attempt, while Spilis followed with her own as Rutgers trailed just 7-4 at halftime.
Cardello finished with seven saves in the first half, while the Scarlet Knights forced the Buckeyes into seven turnovers before the midpoint.
It was Chiarella's turn out of the locker room, as she finished a nice one-vs.-one opportunity top left for the first goal of the second half. Back-to-back goals from Spilis and Warren would get the game within one, but OSU put together a two-goal run to stretch its lead to three wo minutes into the fourth quarter.
Ohio State owned a 10-7 lead with 13 minutes to go before Rutgers began its comeback. Spilis and Tini scored on two consecutive possessions, while Dixon flipped to Spilis with 6:30 remaining to give the Scarlet Knights their first lead at 11-10.
Corbin then followed with her second and third goals of the night to all but put the game out of reach down the stretch. Corbin's third of the night off a pass from Warren made it 13-10 with 2:17 left. The Buckeyes added a goal a minute later, but Rutgers held on for its first Big Ten win of the season.
Up Next
Rutgers closes the regular season Sunday at Vermont. First draw is set for noon ET and will stream on ESPN+.
