CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team lost a hard fought game, 15-10, to visiting Rutgers University on Sunday afternoon at Nippert Stadium. UC (5-7, 0-4 BIG EAST) was led in scoring by Laura Simanksi (Reisterstown, Md./Roland Park) and MacKenzie Parsons (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson), who scored four and three goals, respectively.

The two teams traded goals for the first 10 minutes of the game before a goal by Cincinnati's Natalie Starvaggi (Loveland, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) gave the Bearcats a 3-2 lead. Rutgers scored three unanswered goals when Parsons took a feed from Simanski with 13:17 left in the first period, bringing the score to 5-4. The teams traded goals to close out the half, giving the Scarlet Knights a 7-6 halftime advantage.

Lindsey Marshall (Hilliard, Ohio/Ohio) scored in the first 25 seconds of the second period to tie the game at seven. The teams traded goals over the next 15 minutes of the period. Rutgers went ahead, 11-10, with 14:42 on the scoreboard. The Scarlet Knights held UC scoreless the remainder of the game while scoring four more goals in the final five minutes of play.

Rutgers (5-8, 2-3 BIG EAST) was led by Brooke Cantwell's four goals.

The Bearcats play next when they host Loyola (Md.) in BIG EAST play at Nippert Stadium on Saturday, April 11 at noon.

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CINCINNATI, Ohio. (April 5, 2009) – Junior midfielder Brooke Cantwell (Moorestown, N.J.) tied her season-high with four goals to lead the Rutgers women's lacrosse team to a 15-10 BIG EAST road win over Cincinnati at Nippert Stadium Sunday afternoon.

The score was tied seven times during the closely contested game, but the Scarlet Knights defense held the Bearcats scoreless over the final 15 minutes and RU ended the game on a 5-0 run to clinch the critical conference victory.

Cantwell has scored seven goals in her last two games and now leads Rutgers with 26 goals. Four other Scarlet Knights scored two goals each and freshman Annie McGinley (Moorestown, N.J.) dished out a career-high three assists to pace a potent RU offensive attack that netted 15 goals, the second most of the season.

Rutgers improves to 5-8 overall and 2-3 in the BIG EAST, while Cincinnati falls to 5-7 overall and 0-4 in league play.

Michelle Poole (Long Valley, N.J.) began RU's offensive explosion with her first goal of the game at the 28:40 mark of the first half. After a Cincinnati score, Cantwell netted her first goal of the day to put the Scarlet Knights back on top. The Bearcats would take their only lead of the game (3-2) after scoring on two straight free-position goals.

Rutgers responded with three consecutive goals of its own to take a 5-3 lead midway through the first half. Cantwell capped off the RU run with a free-position score. The squads alternated the next five goals and the Scarlet Knights led 7-6 at halftime.

Cincinnati would tie the game during the first minute of play in the second half, but the Bearcats could never take the lead back. The teams traded goals over the next 15 minutes before Rutgers went ahead for good on a Kristen Anderson (Wading River, N.Y.) score with 14:42 remaining. The Scarlet Knights held UC scoreless the remainder of the game, while scoring four more goals in the final five minutes of play.

Senior goalkeeper Sandra Abel (Monrovia, Md.) posted a game-high 11 saves for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers will return to action on Wednesday, traveling to non-league foe Monmouth. The game, which is RU's third straight on the road, will get under way at 4:00 p.m.

2009-04-05