PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 12 Rutgers field hockey controlling play on Friday, taking down No. 9 Penn State by a 3-0 margin on a frigid Friday afternoon at the Bauer Track and Field Complex. The win marked RU's first ranked victory this season, improving the team's record to 6-3 on the season and 4-2 in games counting towards the conference standings.
The Scarlet Knights got goals from
Clayre Smith,
Rachel Houston and
Milena Redlingshoefer.
Gianna Glatz made five saves to earn her fifth shutout of the season.
Rutgers got onto the board quickly, scoring nine minutes into the game and never looking back.
Clayre Smith knocked home the game's first goal, finding a loose ball in front of the net after a blocked shot and sending it home.
Next up was
Rachel Houston, who tallied to give RU a 2-0 lead in the third quarter. Milena Redlingshofer sent a pass into the circle, and Houston directed it into the net for a two-goal margin.
Penn State kept the pressure on in the second half, with seven shots and six corners after halftime. Glatz stood tall in net, making all five of her saves in the second half, and RU's defense helped keep PSU off the board.
RU earned one final corner with zeroes on the clock, and converted to make the final margin three goals. Milena Redlingshofer blasted in a shot from the top for her team-leading third goal this season.
The Scarlet Knights will face Penn State for one more contest this weekend. That game will take place at noon on Sunday, with another live stream available on BTN Plus. That marks RU's fourth straight game against a top-10 foe.
- Rutgers claimed its first victory over Penn State since 1985.
- It marked RU's first ranked win of the season.
- The victory over the No. 9 Nittany Lions was the third highest ranked Big Ten foe that RU has ever defeated.
- The win was Rutgers' fifth top-10 win in program history, all coming over the past three seasons.
- Rutgers earned its fifth shutout this season, and has allowed just four goals in nine games.
- Clayre Smith and Rachel Houston each notched their first goals of the season.
- With a goal and an assist, Redlingshoefer leads the team with three goals, four assists and 10 points.
"To get this win was very exciting. I think we worked hard for this. Our preparation the whole week, we didn't have a doubt about what we needed to do. Our backs did a great job finding the open spaces for us. And that flowed right to the midfielders and to the forwards thankfully. It was really a great team win overall, everyone worked hard for each other."
-
Clayre Smith
"It feels amazing. We came out and achieved all of our goals. Offensively, we had a plan and we stuck to it. We got the balls flowing through, we had planned for this all week and we executed that today which was really great. We really worked for each other today, both on the offensive and defensive side, and that helped us to a great win."
-
Rachel Houston
Gallery: (4-2-2021) Field Hockey vs. Michigan State
