PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 17 Rutgers field hockey fell 4-3 to No. 23 Ohio State on Sunday afternoon. After a 3-3 tie lasted through two overtime periods, a penalty shootout was needed and Ohio State claimed the win. Senior Nikki Profita had two goals for RU and Daphne Groothuis added one. Rutgers falls to 7-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ohio State scored first, tallying on its first shot of the game. Rutgers answered right back, as Profita took a pass from Austyn Cuneo and answered just 75 seconds later.

There was another scoring flurry ten minutes later. Ohio State scored to take a 2-1 lead. Then just over a minute after that, Gracey Butsack sent a long pass out of the corner, and Profita hammered it home to equalized.

The Scarlet Knights took their first lead at 3-2 late in the first half. Linde van Schaik inserted a corner, Kerrie Burns had the stick stop and Daphne Groothuis shot it in.

That lead held until there was just seven minutes left in the game.  OSU's Sammy Stone re-deflected in a shot from Courtney Daniels to tie the game.

After 90 minutes of action, the game went into a penalty shootout. Both teams made four out of the first five, sending it into sudden victory, where the Buckeyes clinched the win.

QUOTABLE – Head Coach Meredith Civico
"Well done to an Ohio State squad that came out from the first minute just fighting and putting pressure on us. I don't feel like we played our best today. Our focus was to play our hockey for seventy minutes. I think we had some good moments, but it wasn't enough today. We'll recognize the things that we need to work on and prepare as hard as we can for Friday's matchup against Penn State."

POSTGAME NOTES

• Profita had her first career multi-goal game.
• Groothuis now leads the team with six goals and 20 points.
• Gianna Glatz tied her career-high with nine saves.
• This was Rutgers' first game to go to a shootout since a 2013 contest against Villanova. 

UP NEXT
Rutgers will be at No. 3 Maryland next Friday at 4 p.m. Then on Sunday RU hosts Georgetown at 1 p.m.

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