After stunning No.17 Princeton 12-11 in the first round of the Big Ten tournament, Rutgers women’s Lacrosse had their season come to an end in its game against the host team and Big Ten foe, the Maryland Terrapins. The Scarlet Knights fought valiantly, trying to overcome a rough start, but could not pull off the comeback, falling 11-8 despite outscoring Maryland in the final three quarters of the game.
Maryland came thundering out of the gate, pushing their offensive attack and scoring six goals in the first
quarter of the game. They out-drew Rutgers 8-0 in the first quarter alone, with Hilary Elsner scoring the lone first-quarter goal for the Knights.
In the second quarter, Rutgers’ defense settled in, and the Knights were able to make some progress chipping away at their deficit, as they outscored the Terrapins 4-2 in the second quarter. However, the three-point deficit they cut it to in this quarter would be the closest Rutgers would get to overcoming its first-quarter woes, as Maryland would answer every Knight score from then on out to keep the deficit at 3.
Despite the loss, this season will go down as one of the most successful in the history of Rutgers women’s lacrosse. They made the NCAA tournament for just the fourth time ever, and picked up their third-ever win in the tournament as well. On top of that, the team recorded three ranked wins, beating No. 6 Michigan, No. 17 Princeton, and No. 25 Ohio State.
On top of the team’s success as a unit, it was also a record-breaking year for the program in several individual categories. Caroline Ling cemented herself in the Rutgers record books as she broke the team’s single-season points record with 97. Senior captain Lily Dixon produced the most career assists, 122, and single-season assists, 50, in school history, while Katie Buck secured the program’s single-season and single-game draw control record.
Five student-athletes earned 2026 All-Big Ten accolades. Buck was named to the all-Big Ten First Team, while Ling was named to the all-Big Ten Second Team. Three freshmen were named to the all-Big Ten freshman team, including Gabby Mariani, Annalise Messina, and Kate Theofield. These five combined for the most all-conference recognition the team has received since the 2022 campaign.
With the number of freshmen receiving all-conference honors and NCAA tournament experience for Rutgers, the program appears to have a very promising future ahead.
