No. 25 Women’s Lacrosse Set for Big Ten Semifinals Thursday against No. 15 Penn State - Rutgers University Athletics (2024)

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 6 seed Rutgers women's lacrosse (8-9, 1-5) continues postseason play with No. 2 seed Penn State (10-6, 4-2) in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Thursday, May 2 in Evanston, Illinois. First draw is set for 3:30 p.m. with a national broadcast on Big Ten Network.

The Scarlet Knights will compete in their fourth consecutive Big Ten semifinal game after it downed No. 3 seed Maryland, 9-8, in the quarterfinals last Saturday in College Park. A win over Penn State on Thursday would secure RU its second trip to the Big Ten title game in the past three seasons under head coach Melissa Lehman and just its third trip to a conference final in program history.

• The Scarlet Knights secured their trip to Evanston thanks to a 9-8 win over No. 3 Maryland last Saturday in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. The victory was just the second all-time against the Terrapins, the program's first in College Park and marked the fourth consecutive season RU secured a spot in the semifinal round of the conference tournament.
• Down 7-6 early in the fourth quarter against the Terrapins, Rutgers tallied a 3-1 scoring run in the final 12 minutes to secure its spot in the conference semifinals. Senior goalkeeper Sophia Cardello produced a season-high 15 saves to keep RU in the game throughout, which included three stops in the final 15 minutes of play and two in the final 15 seconds of regulation.
• Graduate student Cassidy Spilis netted four goals, which included a first-quarter hat trick, in the win over Maryland. Her four goals moved her to 72 on the season - resetting her single-season program record she produced with 69 scores in 2022.

• Thanks to the win, Rutgers re-entered the IWLCA Coaches Poll with a No. 25 ranking. It marks the ninth time RU has either been ranked or received votes in the poll this season.

• Spilis' 72 goals lead the Big Ten and rank second nationally. Spilis has scored three or more goals 15 times this season, with her 4.24 goals-per-game average second in the conference and fourth in the NCAA.
• Spilis is also third in the Big Ten in caused turnovers per game (2.00) and points (76) and is fourth in draw controls per game (5.35) and points per game (4.47).
• In 17 games, Spilis has tallied 76 points on 72 goals and four assists to go along with 91 draw controls, 38 ground balls and 34 caused turnovers.
• Spilis earned First Team All-Big Ten laurels, announced last Wednesday by the conference office. It marks the fourth consecutive season Spilis has landed on the first team all-conference list, as the Tabernacle, New Jersey, native was one of just five-student athletes from across the league to earn unanimous first team recognition this season.

• Spilis became the program's all-time career points scorer this season with 278 during her illustrious career. Spilis already set the program record for career goals last season and is third among active players in the NCAA with 264 goals.
• With 306 career draw controls, Spilis is three away from surpassing Meghan Ball for the most in school history.
• Spilis also caused the 100^th turnover of her career on Saturday against Maryland, becoming just the third student-athlete in school history with 100 or more career caused turnovers.
• Spilis is the only player in school history with 300 or more draw controls, 200 or more goals and 100 or more caused turnovers in a career.

• Cardello produced one of the top games of her collegiate career last Saturday against Maryland, contributing a season-high 15 saves and stopping 65 percent of shots faced against the Terrapins. Her outing included six saves in the opening quarter, three saves in the fourth quarter and two saves in the final 15 seconds of the game to keep UMD from scoring a game-tying goals. Cardello helped RU's defense hold Maryland to its lowest scoring outing of the season.
• Cardello enters Thursday's game third in the Big Ten and 16^th nationally with a .470 save percentage. Cardello also ranks third in the conference with a 10.59 goals-against average and is fourth in saves (151) and saves per game (8.88).

• Sophom*ore Lily Dixon has enjoyed a productive season finding open teammates, having tallied three or more assists in four of her past six games. Dixon has produced three assists in back-to-back games against Maryland and Vermont, and produced a season-high four helpers on April 3 against Hofstra.
• Dixon ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 28 assists this season and is fifth with 1.65 assists per game.

• Rutgers will play in its fourth consecutive Big Ten Tournament semifinal game dating back to the 2021 season and its fifth since it joined the conference for the 2015 season. The Scarlet Knights are looking to advance to the conference championship for the second time in three seasons after it defeated No. 4 Northwestern back in 2022 at SHI Stadium.
  • May 6, 2016 – No. 1 Maryland 19, Rutgers 9
  • April 30, 2021 – No. 2 Northwestern 24, No. 16 Rutgers 14
  • May 6, 2022 – No. 13 Rutgers 13, No. 4 Northwestern 5
  • May 4, 2023 – No. 10 Maryland 15, No. 23 Rutgers 9

• The Nittany Lions enter Thursday with 10 victories on the season. As the No. 2 seed, PSU defeated No. 7 seed Ohio State, 15-13, last Saturday in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals.
• Kristin O'Neill and Ellie Hollin earned All-Big Ten laurels last week for Penn State. O'Neill leads the Nittany Lions with 42 goals this season, while Hollin has caused 17 turnovers in 16 starts.
• Penn State leads the all-time series with Rutgers, 23-2. The Nittany Lions defeated the Scarlet Knights, 10-9, last March at SHI Stadium. RU rallied from a two-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to force OT before PSU earned the win.

• The winner of Thursday night's game will face either No. 1 seed Northwestern or No. 5 seed Johns Hopkins on Saturday, May 4 at 5:30 p.m.