Lacrosse: No. 3 Northwestern handily defeats Rutgers 15-6, Taylor scores 200th career goal

The Wildcats remain unbeaten in conference play.

The Wildcats are now 5-0 in Big Ten play, dominating all of their opponents along the way.

On Sunday, Northwestern lacrosse (11-2, 5-0 B1G) traveled to New Brunswick and defeated Rutgers (8-6, 2-3 B1G) 15-6. After blowing out No. 4 Johns Hopkins 17-5 and No. 18 USC 17-8 in games prior, the Wildcats have now beaten their opponents by over nine goals in three consecutive games.

Junior attacker Madison Taylor, as she typically does, led the charge with five goals and two assists. She scored her 200th career goal during the match, becoming the eighth player in Northwestern history to reach that mark. Junior Lucy Munro contributed two goals and two assists, while graduate student Niki Miles and senior Sam Smith also chipped in two apiece.

Senior defender Sammy White had a standout game with seven ground balls, five caused turnovers and two draw controls. First-year Mary Carroll was also formidable defensively with two ground balls and two caused turnovers, while graduate student goalkeeper Delaney Sweitzer recorded nine saves. Overall, Northwestern outshot Rutgers 37-20, won the ground ball battle 22-15 and won the draw control 17-7 — with Smith recording 12 of those draws.

Two early Northwestern turnovers allowed Rutgers to get on the board first, courtesy of Michelle Warren coming up from behind the goal. However, the rest of the quarter was all Northwestern. The Wildcats won five of the next six draw controls after Rutgers’ first goal, leading to scoring from Miles, Munro, Smith, Taylor and senior Hannah Johnson. Both teams went without scoring for around five minutes until the end of the quarter, when the two squads traded shots until Taylor finally found the back of the net — shooting as she was pushed to the ground. 15 minutes in, the score was 6-1 Northwestern.

The scoring cooled down in the second quarter, but Northwestern kept the momentum. As its defense put the clamps down on the Scarlet Knights, Smith, Campbell and Taylor tacked on three more goals. The only Rutgers goal scored was from Payton Tini, who converted a free-position shot. At halftime, Northwestern led 9-2.

During the third quarter, Rutgers had an opportunity to come back. Northwestern was in a bit of a rut to start the second half, turning the ball over four times and getting three shots saved by Rutgers goalkeeper Lexie Coldiron. In fact, it went nearly 15 minutes (including the second quarter) without scoring. The Scarlet Knights did make it 9-4 in that period with a goal right at the end of the shot clock from Alexa Corbin, as well as one from Kayleigh Coughlin.

However, Northwestern prevent Rutgers from capitalizing even further, and Taylor woke up the offense with two goals to close the quarter. With a quarter left to play, Northwestern had an 11-2 lead. Its scoring run continued into the fourth, with Taylor, Munro and senior Emerson Bohlig nabbing goals to force a running clock. Taylor’s fourth-quarter strike, a running shot from a few feet within the eight-meter arc, was her 200th career goal.

Tini stopped the running clock with 4:50 left, but at that point in the game, Northwestern was already emptying its bench. Sophomore Lauren Archer got more late-game reps in with a free position goal to put Northwestern back up by double digits, and Rutgers responded with one more goal from Tini that ultimately didn’t matter. When the final buzzer sounded, the Wildcats emerged with a 15-6 victory.

After a long road slate, Northwestern will return home to play Oregon on April 13. The game will be the Wildcats’ first home game since March 27 and its first outdoor game of the season. It will also be the inaugural lacrosse game played at the modified Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium.