PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women's lacrosse (2-1) defeated Delaware (1-1), 13-9, on Saturday afternoon at SHI Stadium. Down 6-4 at halftime with snow falling throughout the afternoon, the Scarlet Knights outscored the Blue Hens, 9-3, in the final 30 minutes of play to secure the win in their home opener.
 
In a game that featured seven different lead changes and six ties, RU used a 4-1 scoring run in the final 8:30 of play to put the game out of reach. Rutgers featured seven different goal scorers in the impressive out-of-conference victory over the Blue Hens.
 
"Our team responded coming out of the locker room in the second half," said head coach Melissa Lehman. "We really challenged them to get gritty and to fight on our home turf, and it led to us completely dominating the second half. I was really proud with our fourth quarter, especially, on both sides of the ball."
 
Junior Lily Dixon stuffed the stat sheet, tying a career-high with six points on three goals and three assists to go along with four ground balls, three caused turnovers and two draw controls. Redshirt freshman Samantha Swanovich tallied her first career hat trick, while senior Victoria Goldrick added five points on three assists and two goals.
 
Junior Katie Buck produced a game-high eight draw controls to help RU to a 15-10 advantage on the restart. Graduate student Lexie Coldiron earned her second win in cage for Rutgers with 11 saves.
 
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, as rookie Delainey Sutley netted the first goal of the afternoon on an unassisted strike. Both squads scored three apiece in the opening 15 minutes, with goals from Dixon and Goldrick making it a 3-3 game after one.
 
Goldrick found Swanovich for her first goal of the afternoon out of the second quarter timeout, putting the Scarlet Knights up 4-3 with 12:03 before halftime. But Delaware would hold RU off the scoreboard until the midpoint, closing the half on a 3-0 run for a 6-4 lead heading into the locker room.
 
Rutgers pulled even in the third quarter, with back-to-back goals from Sutley and Swanovich tying the score at 6-6 with 8:15 to go in the period. Delaware responded with a score before goals from Goldrick and Swanovich made it 8-7 after three. Swanovich's score with 3:31 left in the quarter was her third of the day.
 
It was all Rutgers in the final 15 minutes of action, closing the day with a 5-2 run. Dixon found sophomore Payton Tini to opening the quarter, then netted two consecutive scores to make it 11-8 Rutgers. Rookie Hilary Elsner off a pass from Goldrick to hand the Scarlet Knights their biggest lead of the day at 12-8 with 6:51 remaining. Both teams would trade scores before RU exited with a 13-9 victory.
 
Up Next
Rutgers hosts Le Moyne on Saturday, Feb. 22 at SHI Stadium. First draw is set for 3 p.m. and will stream on Big Ten Plus.