TINTON FALLS, N.J. – Rutgers women's lacrosse (1-1) earned its first win of the season thanks to its 15-8 victory over Monmouth (0-2) on Wednesday. With the game moved indoors to the Capelli Sport Complex in Tinton Falls, the Scarlet Knights used 28 shots on goal and outscored the Hawks, 9-5, in the second half to secure the road victory.
 
Senior Alexa Corbin scored a career-high five goals and added two assists to pace RU's offensive attack with seven points. Junior Ava Chiarella, sophomore Payton Tini and freshman Delainey Sutley all had multi-goal outings.
 
Graduate student Lexie Coldiron continued her strong start to the 2025 season, finishing the afternoon with 12 saves. Junior Katie Buck once again led RU with a game-high nine draw controls, helping Rutgers to a 15-12 advantage on the restart. Coldiron, Chiarella and rookie Bianca Chiarella scooped up two ground balls apiece, while Ava Chiarella caused a team-high two turnovers.
 
Corbin found junior Lily Dixon three minutes into the game for Rutgers' first goal of the afternoon, while goals from Corbin and rookie Delainey Sutley provided the Scarlet Knights with a quick 3-0 lead with 8:23 left in the quarter. Monmouth netted its first goal in the final minute of the period, but seven saves from Coldiron made it a 3-1 game through the first 15 minutes of action.
 
Dixon returned to the favor to Corbin to open the second quarter, finding her cutting teammate to extend RU's lead to 4-1 at the 14:23 mark in the period. Both squads continued to trade goals before halftime, as Corbin and Sutley each added scores in the final three minutes of the period to make it a 6-3 advantage for the Scarlet Knights at the midpoint.
 
RU held a slight 19-17 shot advantage and forced Monmouth into nine turnovers in the first half. Coldiron entered the locker room with 10 saves.
 
Rutgers started to pull away in the second half, as Ava Chiarella netted back-to-back unassisted goals in the opening seven minutes of the third quarter to extend the Scarlet Knights' lead to 8-3. RU outscored the Hawks 5-1 in the next 15 minutes of play, as a goal from rookie Hilary Elsner off a pass from senior Victoria Goldrick put Rutgers up 11-5 at the end of the quarter.
 
Corbin continued her standout afternoon to help the Scarlet Knights put the game out of reach down the stretch. Corbin muscled a free position goal one minute into the fourth quarter and followed with an unassisted score 30 seconds later, as her fifth of the day made it 13-5 RU with 13:46 to play. Goals from Tini and rookie Gianna Macrino gave Rutgers a 10-goal advantage with 10 minutes left.
 
Monmouth closed the game with three consecutive goals before the Scarlet Knights left with their 15-8 win.
 
Up Next
Rutgers faces Delaware in its home opener on Saturday, Feb. 15 at SHI Stadium. First draw is set for 1 p.m. and will stream on Big Ten Plus.