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IOWA CITY, Iowa - Rutgers field hockey scored early and often and often on Saturday afternoon, rolling past Missouri State by a 6-0 score. The Scarlet Knights got two goals from Nicole Imbriaco and tallies from Rachel Yaney, Katie Champion, Caitlin Nitschman, and Devon Freshnock to improve to 5-2 on the season.

"Today's win against Missouri State was a true team effort," head coach Meredith Civico said. "We had multiple players score goals. The team stayed strong together defensively through 70 minutes of play to secure the shutout. I am very proud of the effort and mentality we displayed as a group. We are looking forward to getting back to Piscataway and preparing for our next Big Ten opponent."

Rachel Yaney got the Scarlet Knights off to a good start just 1:06 into the game. Alyssa Bull took the initial shot from the top of the circle, and Yaney deflected it in for a 1-0 advantage.

Rutgers would then strike quickly for two more goals, scoring just 12 seconds apart. Katie Champion tallied at the 15:40 mark, then RU regained possession and Nicole Imbriaco deflected in a feed from freshman Caitlin Nitschmann for a 3-0 lead.

Just three minutes later, Nitschmann got in on the scoring, tallying her second goal of the season for a 4-0 RU lead just 19 minutes into the game. Imbriaco followed that with her second goal of the game, putting RU in front 5-0 heading into halftime.

In the second half Freshnock finished a pass from Sofia Walia after a corner to put Rutgers ahead 6-0. That would finish the scoring on the day, as RU closed out the Bears for the shutout.

Rutgers outshot Missouri State 15-4 on the game and had a 10-1 edge on corners.

Next week the Scarlet Knights are back for two home Big Ten games. RU will host Northwestern on Friday and Michigan on Sunday.

Game Notes

Nicole Imbriaco now has three straight multi-goal performances.
Kelly Hanna received her first start of the season. RU started two freshmen, with Hanna alongside Linde van Schaik.
Caitlin Nitschmann had her first career multi-point game (one goal, one assist).
Devon Freshnock collected her second assist of the year, setting a new career-best.
Katie Beilin saw her first career game action.
Shevaun Hayes and Beilin combined on the shutout, the first of Beilin's career and the second this season for Hayes and RU.

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