Northwestern opened up Big Ten play on Thursday night in Piscataway defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 23-13. The Wildcats (5-3, 1-0) entered the contest ranked seventh in the nation despite recent losses to No. 1 Boston College and No. 3 North Carolina. Northwestern’s explosive offense proved too much for the Scarlet Knights (4-5, 0-1), as Selena Lasota tied her career-high with nine goals and freshman Izzy Scane added six more.
Scane got the Wildcats going with two goals in less than four minutes. She finished the hat trick in just over seven minutes. Lasota accumulated two goals in a largely quiet first half, including a score with five seconds left in the period to give NU a seven-goal advantage at the half.