West Point, N.Y. - A week after the Rutgers men's lacrosse team was upset by the Army men, the No. 9 Scarlet Knight women's lacrosse team traveled to West Point to face the Black Knights' women's team on a snowy afternoon along the banks of the Hudson hoping to avoid a fate similar to the men's team. Unfortunately, for the Rutgers women their fate would be the same as their male counterparts, as they were upset by the Army women 10-5.
Army jumped on Rutgers early, staking themselves to a 5-0 lead after one quarter. It was not until 1:05 into the second quarter that the Scarlet Knights got on the board after Cassidy Spilis managed to slip a shot past Army goalkeeper Lacey Bartholomay on a free position shot. The Black Knights, however, would respond with 3:59 left in the half, and the teams would go into intermission with the Scarlet Knights trailing 6-1.
After Army scored at the 12:13 mark in the third quarter, Rutgers attempted to rally, rattling off three unanswered goals. First, Spilis netted her second goal of the afternoon at the 11:24 mark in the period to cut the Scarlet Knight deficit to 7-2. Neither team would score another goal until the 3:14 mark in the period when Kate Carolonza put a free position shot in the back of the net to get Rutgers within four. Spilis, then netted the hat trick with 51 seconds remaining in the stanza to make the score, after three periods, 7-4 in favor of the hosts.
Rutgers' Caroline Perry in action against Army. (Photo courtesy Christopher Shannon)
Army quickly dashed any hopes of a Rutgers comeback, though, as soon as the fourth quarter began when the Black Knights' Julia Franzoni scored 47 seconds into the frame on a man-up opportunity. Then, 1:12 later, Army scored again off a Kathleen Sullivan free position shot to extend the Black Knights' lead to 9-4. Spilis would score one more time with 11:16 left in the game to cut the Army lead back down to four, however Army would tack on one more goal a little under five minutes later to set the final, 10-5, score.
Spilis led the RU offense with her four goals. Carolonza, also added a tally and Marin Hartshorn had an assist. Sophia Cardello made 13 stops in goal for the Scarlet Knights.
From a team perspective, Rutgers and Army were relatively even on draw controls for the game, with the Black Knights owning a slight 10-9 advantage. However, in the fourth quarter, Army owned a 4-1 draw control advantage, allowing the Black Knights to keep possession away from the Scarlet Knights in the final frame. Additionally, Army won the turnover battle and was able to get off more shots, committing only 13 turnovers compared to Rutgers' 20, while outshooting the Scarlet Knights by a 33-25 margin. Of their 33 shots, the Black Knights put 23 on target, compared to the 17 that Rutgers put on frame.
Hightstown, New Jersey native Julia Gorajek recorded one helper and a shot-on-goal for Army.
Up Next
Rutgers returns home to SHI Stadium Wednesday evening to face No. 16 Princeton in a battle of Garden State foes.
- Yul Moldauer: The Hype Man of 2024 Team USA Gymnastics - April 17, 2024
- Rutgers gymnastics scores successful St. Patrick's Day Weekend - March 18, 2024
- Jefferson's 3-point shooting dooms Bloomfield in CACC men's basketball title game - March 11, 2024
