Rutgers women’s lacrosse ‘excited’ for NCAA Tournament return: ‘We can play with anyone in the country’

The first floor of the Rodkin Center was filled on Wednesday afternoon to send off the most successful team at Rutgers this spring. Members of the men’s lacrosse team lined the hallway walls while head coaches Steve Pikiell ( men’s basketball ), Brian Brecht (men’s lacrosse) and Mike O’Neill (women’s soccer) stood in the lobby alongside dozens of other athletics employees awaiting the women’s lacrosse team. As the Scarlet Knights made their way out of the building and towards the bus that will drive them down to Maryland — where they will face in-state rival Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday — they all cheered while waiving pom-poms, matching the excitement the team showed when it saw its name on ESPN during Sunday’s selection show.

The Rutgers women’s lacrosse team gets a nice send-off before heading to College Park for the NCAA Tournament: pic. twitter. com/E9STopTG6o — Brian Fonseca (@briannnnf) May 6, 2026 “Watching your name on the screen, it was so much fun, almost indescribable,” senior captain Katie Buck, who starred locally at Moorestown High School, said.

“I’m just really just so proud of the people around me because we’ve really seen what it took to get to where we were and it was anything but easy. ” The Scarlet Knights are back in the postseason for the third time under head coach Melissa Lehman after reaching the NCAA Tournament during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, and the feeling from Lehman and her players was universal: “We couldn’t be more excited,” senior Lily Dixon said. The current senior class arrived immediately following those NCAA Tournament runs, and after coming close on a pair of occasions, they broke through this spring with a strong season.

Playing one of the hardest schedules in the country, the Scarlet Knights (10-8, 4-4) earned enough wins to overcome a late-season skid (three straight losses) and earn an at-large bid. “We’ve had some good wins the past couple years, but it hasn’t ultimately gone our way,” Dixon said. “All of our hard work, especially for my senior class, we went through so much adversity and I think these past three years have made us better (players) and made us better leaders to carry this young talented talented team to the NCAA Tournament.