2023 Women's Top 30: How Rutgers Fared vs. Projections

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2024, our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking one last look at 2023.

After all, you have to look at the most recent results before making projections for what’s to come. To do that, we’re taking a journey through the top 30 teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse — what went right, what went wrong and what we should all think of that team’s season.

Was it a success? A failure? A mixture of both? You’ll find out our thoughts over the next month or so.

RUTGERS WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Nike/USA Lacrosse Preseason/Final Top 20 Ranking: 7/Unranked
2023 record: 8-9 (1-5 Big Ten)

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Rutgers showed flashes of the potential most expected from the Scarlet Knights after a record-breaking 2022 season for the program. That potential was most evident in wins over Stony Brook (12-7 on April 12) and Johns Hopkins (15-14 on April 29 in the Big Ten tournament). Cassidy Spilis (47 goals) and Marin Hartshorn (35 goals) were a dynamic 1-2 punch, while Hartshorn and Jenna Byrne (27 assists each) were excellent feeders.

Nobody had a better individual showing than Meghan Ball, a first-team All-American and Big Ten defender of the year after a season in which she nabbed 101 draw controls and 51 ground balls and caused 60 turnovers.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Just about everything else. A three-game losing streak sunk Rutgers to 3-3, and then after a 12-10 win over Vanderbilt, the Scarlet Knights dropped another four straight. It a rollercoaster campaign, and the Rutgers offense looked like it sorely missed T.T. Naslonski and Stephanie Kelly, who both graduated after being key cogs in Rutgers’ 2022 season. Rutgers finished 94th nationally in scoring offense with 10.06 goals per game, a steep decline from the 13.57 goals per game the offense produced in 2022.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

It was easily that April 12 win over a top-10 Stony Brook team. That win vaulted Rutgers back to semi-relevance, and had the Scarlet Knights finished the season with a .500 record, it might have been enough to get them into the NCAA tournament field as one of the final at-large bids.

VERDICT

Rutgers’ season was a disappointment, especially with the team entering the season ranked No. 7, but perhaps that was a misstep considering the offensive talent that wasn’t returning. Spilis and Ball were two of the best at their respective positions, though, so there were some high points in Piscataway.