Michigan
5-10, 1-4
Rutgers
7-8, 1-3
Rutgers Outlasts Michigan in Overtime
4/12/2018 10:02:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
» Rutgers scored on its opening possession of overtime, and with one second left on the shot clock.
» Alli Kothari tied her own single-game record with 15 saves.
» Michigan returns home on April 21 at 3 p.m. against East Carolina.
Site: Piscataway, N.J. (High Point Solutions Stadium)
Score: Rutgers 9, Michigan 8 (OT)
Records: U-M (5-10, 1-4 Big Ten), RU (7-8, 1-3 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, April 21 -- vs. East Carolina, (U-M Lacrosse Stadium), 3 p.m.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The University of Michigan women's lacrosse team suffered a tough loss Thursday night (April 12) as Rutgers scored on the opening possession of overtime to defeat the Wolverines, 9-8, at High Point Solutions Stadium.
In a game that saw seven ties and three lead changes, Paige Paratore found the back of the net with just one second left on the shot clock to give Rutgers its first conference win of the season. The defeat overshadowed a spectacular effort in goal from Alli Kothari who tied her own single-game school record with 15 saves.
The teams battled to a 4-all halftime score as Maggie Kane's second goal of the game with 30 seconds remaining in the first half gave the Wolverines momentum. Rugters held an edge in shots (16-11) and U-M committed seven first-half turnovers, but Kothari responded in net with seven first-half saves. Bianca Brueckner also had two goals in the opening half. Joanna Reilly had two tallies for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers went on top, 6-5, as the teams traded three goals in a 45-second burst of the second half. Rutgers scored twice in that span with Brueckner briefly tying the game at 5 when she perfectly timed a run in front of the net before getting a feed from Caitlin Muir, who had attacked from the edge.
Rutgers scored again, however, to claim a 7-5 lead with 24:21 to play when Kerri Puckharber gave the Scarlet Knights their largest lead of the night. RU then had a two-player advantage with 20:25 minutes left, but Kothari came up with a huge stop from point-blank range to keep the Wolverines in contention.
Kothari then stopped a free-position attempt and U-M cut the deficit to 7-6 with 13:55 to go behind a goal from Chandler Kirby off a nice feed from Lilly Grass. Molly Garrett tied it just nine seconds later when she controlled the draw, scurried in on goal uncontested and dropped a perfect shot for the equalizer.
U-M took the lead one minute later when Grass found Brueckner cutting to the goal for a one-timer. Rutgers answered again as the home team overloaded the field to the left side with Paratore going wide right, then spinning back to the center of the field for the 11th multiple-goal game of her season.
A critical point of the game came when U-M was unable to clear and Rutgers called timeout with 5:50 remaining in regulation. On the ensuing possession, Kothari came up with a huge save as Rutgers' Samantha Budd cut in front of the goal uncontested, only to be turned away by the Wolverines' netminder.
The teams traded empty possessions with Kothari turning away another prime scoring opportunity with 43 seconds left for her 15th save of the night. U-M called timeout with 34 seconds remaining, but could not get the game-winner and the game went into overtime.
Paratore finished the night with four goals for Rutgers. Brueckner led U-M with four goals on as many shots while Grass logged a career-best with three assists, and Muir finished the night with two assists.
