PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women's lacrosse (5-3) lost to No. 12 Princeton (6-1), 20-8, on Wednesday night at SHI Stadium. The Tigers opened the matchup with a 7-0 scoring run and put 41 shots on goals to earn the in-state, non-conference victory in Piscataway.

Junior Ava Chiarella netted her first hat trick of the season, finishing the night with three goals, two ground balls and a caused turnover. Sophomore Alex Popham added two goals, while senior Alexa Corbin and rookies Caroline Ling and Delainey Sutley all contributed scores. Junior Lily Dixon dished out an assist to go along with two ground balls and draw controls.

Junior Katie Buck muscled a game-high seven draw controls, while freshman Bianca Chiarella caused two turnovers and scooped up two ground balls. Graduate student goalkeeper Lexie Coldiron stopped a career-high 21 saves against the high-powered Princeton offense.

The Tigers were led by All-American McKenzie Blake, who scored eight goals and added an assist.

Princeton opened the night with seven consecutive goals before a late score from Corbin got Rutgers on the board at the end of the first quarter. Ava Chiarella then netted back-to-back goals to draw the score within four before the Tigers ended the half on a 5-1 scoring run to take a 12-4 lead into the locker room.

Popham and Sutley tallied goals after the midpoint, but Blake netted four goals across 10 minutes of game play to put the game out of reach.

Up Next
Rutgers heads west to open Big Ten Conference play against Oregon on Sunday, March 16 in Eugene. First draw is set for 3 p.m. ET, with the game streamed on Big Ten Plus.