Rutgers Field Hockey Preps for BIG EAST Tournament
Nov 03 | Field Hockey
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (November 3, 2010) - The Rutgers field hockey team is preparing for its first trip to the BIG EAST Tournament since the 2003 season. The Scarlet Knights, who enter the weekend as the fourth seed, will take on No. 1 seed Syracuse on Saturday, Nov. 6, in an 11 a.m. matchup at the Sherman Sports Complex in Storrs, Conn.
"It's an honor to be competing in the BIG EAST Tournament," said Rutgers head coach Liz Tchou. "It's really for all the alums that haven't been able to experience this tournament because it's so special to make the top-four in the BIG EAST and compete for a championship."
The Scarlet Knights finished their BIG EAST regular season slate with a 2-4 overall record, tying for fourth with Villanova. RU advanced to the tournament as the result of owning the tiebreaker over the Wildcats thanks to a 4-2 victory on Sept. 24.
"We're not taking anything for granted," said Tchou. "We love the fact that we're here and we really want to compete this weekend and show why we're here."
In the first matchup of the tournament, RU will take on BIG EAST regular season champion Syracuse, a team that downed the Knights earlier this season.
If they are able to best the Orange, the Scarlet Knights will take on either Louisville or Connecticut in the BIG EAST championship game on Sunday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. The Scarlet Knights have only advanced to the championship game once in program history, falling to Syracuse, 1-0, in 1995.
"We need to play 70 minutes of smart hockey," Tchou said. "We need to play our game. We aren't as concerned with the opponent as we are with ourselves. This week is all about getting ourselves to play the way we need to play and get us back into that confident mode. "
All three matchup of the BIG EAST Tournament will be streamed live via the BIG EAST conference website. Fans can watch the event for free by using the following link: http://www.bigeast.org/BIGEASTTV/LiveEventsSchedule.asp.
