PISCATAWAY, N.J.  – No. 20 Rutgers field hockey begins postseason play this weekend at the Big Ten Tournament. The Scarlet Knights, who went 9-8 during the regular season and 3-4 in Big Ten Conference play, earned the number 5 seed for the conference tournament. RU will face No. 4 seed and host Northwestern Wildcats, who went 13-5 in the regular season, with a 6-2 conference mark.

The teams will meet at Lakeside Field in Evanston, Ill., for the second time this year. The previous meeting was a tightly contested 3-2 Northwestern win. The Scarlet Knights rallied with second half goals from Linde van Schaik and Kerrie Burns, but fell by the on-goal margin. Freshman goalkeeper Gianna Glatz made six saves in the game.

"We're excited about the draw in the Big Ten Tournament and the matchup against Northwestern," head coach Meredith Civico said. "We played them really tight during the season. We definitely know after playing them what we can exploit and what we need to neutralize in order to be successful. Our team is very focused in our preparation for this game."
 
The Scarlet Knights are looking for their first ever Big Ten Tournament win. The program's last postseason victory came in the 1997 ECAC Tournament, when they defeated New Hampshire (11/16/1997). A victory would also give RU 10 wins in a season for the first time since 2008. A victory would place Rutgers into the semifinals, which will take place November 3 at Michigan State. Their opponent would be the winner of the First Round game between No. 1 seed Michigan and No. 8 Ohio State / No. 9 Indiana.  
 
Rutgers was led offensively in the regular season by a pair of Netherlands natives in the midfield. Freshman Daphne Groothuis paced the squad with seven goals, seven assists and 21 points. Junior Linde van Schaik was just behind her, tying with seven goals and adding five assists for 19 points. Sophomore back Austyn Cuneo was third with four goals and five assists for 13 points, while sophomore Nikki Santore and freshman Gianna Mancini also added four goals. Glatz started every game in goal, compiling 73 saves with a 2.12 goals-against-average and .676 save percentage.
 
No. 10 ranked Northwestern will be the 11^th nationally ranked opponent Rutgers will face this season. The squad has set a program record with three ranked wins this season – versus No. 23 Old Dominion, No. 19 Iowa and No. 12 Stanford. The win over the 12^th-ranked Cardinal was the highest ranked program RU has ever defeated.
 
The Wildcats are led by Puck Petenga, who has 34 points (nine goals and a conference-leading 16 assists). Pascale Massey follows her with a team-high 12 goals and 28 points, while Kirsten Mansfield has seven goals and 10 assists for 24 points. In goal, Annie Kalfas has compiled 73 saves with a 1.59 goals-against average and a .730 save percentage.
 
The Wildcats average 9.11 penalty corners per game, a mark that is fourth-best in the nation. Northwestern has won all four previous meetings against RU, included two in Evanston, both of which were by just a one-goal margin.

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