PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 20 Rutgers field hockey heads back on the road this weekend, taking on two top-12 opponents in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Scarlet Knights will face No. 4 Michigan on Friday (6 p.m., BTN Plus), then have a neutral site contest at 4 p.m. Saturday against No. 12 Stanford.
Rutgers is 7-4 on the season and 2-1 in the conference. Unbeaten at home (4-0), the squad is 3-4 away from home this season. RU is coming off a one-goal loss last Friday at No. 10 Northwestern, falling 3-2 despite a goal from Linde van Schaik (who tied for the team lead with six goals) and the first career tally from freshman back Kerrie Burns. The Dutch midfield duo of Daphne Groothuis and Linde van Schaik share the team lead in goals and rank 1 and 2 in points and assists.
"Michigan is a physical team, they play an up-tempo attacking style," head coach Meredith Civico said. "Stanford is doing really well this season. We wanted to pick up a non-conference opponent out there to push us and I know that playing a team like Stanford will do that. We need to compete this weekend like we did in the second half of the Northwestern game, playing front foot hockey and attacking. We have to come out with the mentality that we are playing to win and establish that early on. The first ten minutes are crucial to set us up and get that attacking mentality going."
Rutgers has outscored opponents 28-17 on the season, holding its foes to 1.55 goals per game. All five goals the team has scored through its three conference games have come off of penalty corners.
Michigan enters the contest at 9-2 overall and a league-best 4-0 in conference games. Their victories include ranked wins over No. 1 UNC, No. 3 Penn State, No. 15 Maryland No. 15 Wake Forest and No. 25 Liberty. The Wolverines are led offensively by Meg Dowthwaite (10 goals, seven assists) and Emma Way (eight goals, eight assists). Between the pipes, 2015 All-American Sam Swenson has a 1.01 goals-against-average and .807 save percentage. Michigan leads the all-time series against Rutgers 6-0. The last trip to Ann Arbor came for the 2014 Big Ten Tournament, where No. 2 seeded and host Michigan defeated No. 7 seeded Rutgers 3-0.
Stanford enters the weekend at 7-3 overall, and will play RU first before matching up with Michigan on Sunday. The Cardinal are 1-2 against Big Ten foes this season, defeating No. 14 Northwestern and falling to No. 17 Iowa and then to Ohio State in their last game. Corinne Zanolli leads the team with 20 points (eight goals and four assists), while 2016 All-American Kelsey Bing has a 1.44 goals-against-average and .803 save percentage between the pipes. Stanford and Rutgers are tied at 2-2 in the all-time series. The last matchup came in 2010, a 3-1 Cardinal win. Rutgers last defeated Stanford in 1993, 4-1.
