PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 3 Rutgers field hockey will host the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since joining the league. The Scarlet Knights, who posted a 15-3 overall record and earned the No. 2 seed in the bracket and will open action Thursday at 2 p.m. against No. 7 seed Indiana.
Tournament Central | Tickets | Live Stats | Thursday Live Stream
Thursday's Quarterfinals will stream on B1G+, with Ralph Bednarcyzk (play-by-play) and Marybeth Freeman (color commentary) on the call. Friday's Semifinals (2 pm and 4:30 pm) and Sunday's Championship game (12 pm) will be nationally televised by Big Ten Network. Dean Linke will handle play-by-play duties on Friday, with Chris Vosters broadcasting Sunday. Kara Lentz will provide color commentary on both days.
Rutgers' will host in the postseason for the first time since the 2010 BIG EAST Tournament. Playing at the Bauer Track & Field Complex gives RU a homefield advantage. The Scarlet Knights are 13-1 at home over the past two seasons, going undefeated in the spring season and just dropping one contest this season, to No. 1 Iowa.
The Scarlet Knights, currently No. 2 nationally in the RPI and No. 3 in the Coaches Poll, posted a 15-3 overall record in the regular season, tying the 1986 team for most wins ever in RU program history. The Scarlet Knights posted their most conference wins since joining the league in 2014-15. The team also set program records with 10 ranked wins, four top-10 wins and seven ranked road wins.
Rutgers is led by goalkeeper
Gianna Glatz. The Medford, N.J. native holds career-bests in goals-against-average (0.93) and save percentage (.803). The team also boasts returning All-Americans in
Katie Larmour and
Milena Redlingshoefer, along with former all-conference selection
Kerrie Burns. All four were named All-Big Ten Wednesday. Glatz was named Co-Player of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten. Larmour is also First Team All-Big Ten, while Burns and Redlingshoefer were named Second Team All-Big Ten.
Gianna Mancini was named the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Winner.
The Big Ten has six teams in the top seven spots in the national poll: No. 1 Iowa, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Rutgers, No. 5 Northwestern, No. 6 Maryland and No. 7 Penn State. Those teams also occupy six of the top seven spots in the RPI.
The Scarlet Knights have a number of notable milestones on the horizon if the team can defeat the Hoosiers to open the Big Ten Tournament. That victory would represent:
- 100 career wins for head coach Meredith Civico (enters the weekend with a 99-81 record through 10 seasons as RU's head coach).
- A program record with 16 wins on the season.
- The team's first ever Big Ten Tournament win.
- RU's first postseason win since the 1997 ECAC Tournament.
Rutgers has qualified for the Big Ten Tournament for the seventh time in eight seasons in the league. Indiana represents the fifth different opponent for RU in the Big Ten Tournament. Rutgers finished tied for second place and earned the No. 2 seed based on a head-to-head tiebreaker with their season win over Penn State. The No. 2 seed is program's best Big Ten seeding, the first time seeded better than fourth. Last season, RU tied for third place, but was the No. 6 seed after tiebreakers.
Indiana Game Notes
Rutgers will face Indiana in the Quarterfinals, the second matchup at home against the Hoosiers this season. Indiana finished the season 10-9 under third-year head coach Kayla Bashore. The team claimed conference wins over Ohio State and Michigan State to eliminate both teams from the postseason and clinch the last spot. The team is led offensively by Kira Curland, with seven goals and six assists. Hailey Couch has contributed six goals. Goalkeeper Arabella Loveridge has a 2.92 goals-against-average and .614 save percentage. The team started the year 4-1, its best five-game start to a season since 2014 and earned a ranked victory over No. 21 Miami (OH) that was their first such win since 2017.
Earlier this season, RU defeated Indiana 1-0 in double-overtime.
Gianna Mancini scored the game-winning goal off an assist from
Lucy Bannatyne. RU led 16-3 in shots, 7-1 in shots on goal, and 13-3 in penalty corner chances.
Rutgers holds a 9-2 advantage in the all-time series against Indiana. Rutgers has won five straight matchups against the Hoosiers.
If Rutgers wins, the Scarlet Knights' will play the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between No. 3 seed Penn State and No. 6 Maryland. That game would be at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Rutgers defeated each team this season by 1-0 margins. If RU advances, additional Rutgers' games would be nationally televised by Big Ten Network and broadcast by WRSU Student Radio.
A potential Big Ten Championship matchup would see either No. 1 seed Iowa, No. 4 seed Michigan or No. 5 seed Northwestern.
The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is at 10 p.m. this Sunday.
