Box Score | Photo Gallery

EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette women's lacrosse team held its own on Tuesday evening at Fisher Stadium, playing Rutgers even for the majority of the game before a late run sent them to a 15-10 defeat.

In a matchup that was 15-4 at halftime and finished with a 19-7 loss a year ago, the Leopards showed vast improvement, even or within one goal for the first 44 minutes of the contest. Unfortunately, the momentum ran out over the final 16 minutes as the Scarlet Knights netted the final four goals to see out a 15-10 final.

"To battle them the way we did was really impressive," head coach Alison Fisher said. "We're playing a lot of young kids and Rutgers is a consistently tough team to play with their athleticism and their confidence. We had a lot of trouble with them last year, but the way that we played them for most of this game was really promising."

The Leopards got on the board early as freshman Jane Kirby linked up with sophomore Emma Novick for the first two Lafayette scores to tie the game at two after the opening 10 minutes. Senior Kirsten Wilhelmsen added a third to give the Leopards a 3-2 lead, but two back from Rutgers made it 4-3 into the midway point of the opening half.

Sophomores Hannah Davey and Novick responded, recapturing the advantage at the 10:48 mark with a 5-4 lead. Rutgers answered with three of its own, but the Leopards closed the half strong as Davey and Wilhelmsen tied the game at seven into the halftime break.

The two teams traded goals over the first 12 minutes of the second half to make it 9-9 at 18:23. However, Rutgers' goal at the 17:55 mark gave it a lead it would never give up as a Wilhelmsen tally from Davey at 17:04 was the final Leopard marker. The Scarlet Knights finished with four straight over the last 16:17 of action to finish up a 15-10 win.

The Leopards controlled the game in most of the statistical categories, leading the way in shots (33-30), ground balls (23-15) and causing 15 of Rutgers' 20 turnovers with three credited to senior Amada Case. The ride forced eight failed clears from the Scarlet Knights as sophomore Amelia Heisler, junior Dana Smith and Wilhelmsen also chipped in with two caused turnovers each, while Heisler added a team-high four ground balls.

Wilhelmsen was the leader once again offensively, coming off an eight-goal, one-assist performance in the win over Binghamton on Thursday. The senior posted four goals and an assist on Tuesday, while Novick, Kirby and Davey each added two goals to go along with two, one and one assist, respectively.

The loss is the first for the Maroon and White on the young season, dropping them to 2-1 overall, while Rutgers improves its record to 2-1 with the win. Lafayette hits the road for four straight, beginning on Saturday when it travels to Temple for a 1 p.m. tilt with the Owls.