No. 12 Field Hockey Sweeps Series with No. 9 Penn State

Sunday, April 4

Piscataway, N.J.

12 PM

Rutgers University

(7-3)

Penn State

(4-5)

PSU

Photo by: Rich Graessle

No. 12 Field Hockey Sweeps Series with No. 9 Penn State

Apr 04 | Field Hockey

Box Score RU Penn State Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 12 Rutgers field hockey earned another shutout victory over No. 9 Penn State, downing the Nittany Lions 1-0 on Sunday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights swept the weekend series with PSU, holding the Nittany Lions without a goal in both games. The game did not count towards the Big Ten Conference standings, with RU's overall record moving to 7-3.

The lone goal in the game came 20 minutes in. Early in the second quarter, the Scarlet Knights put pressure on the PSU cage and had a series of chances in front. With the ball loose and bouncing around, Gianna Mancini got the right spot in front to knock it home, scoring what would be the game-winning goal.

Penn State kept the pressure on RU late, especially in the fourth quarter, with eight shots and two penalty corners in the final frame. However, RU's defense held strong and preserved the shutout win.

PSU had a 11-6 advantage in shots and 5-3 margin in corners. However, Gianna Glatz made six saves to earn her sixth shutout in 10 games.

"We got the result we wanted today, getting two wins over a strong Penn State team to win the weekend," Kerrie Burns said. "We're defensive minded all over the field. In the circle, nothing gets past us. Our defensive penalty corner unit has been solid the entire season. We've taken that principle outside of the 25 as well. It was a very good defensive performance today. Beating Penn State is something we've always wanted to do, it's taken us a long time to do it, but two wins against them this weekend, that's a statement. That gives us a lot of confidence going into the Northwestern series next week."

Rutgers remains home next weekend to host Friday and Sunday contests against No. 3 Northwestern. Friday's game will be televised nationwide by Big Ten Network at 1 p.m.

Postgame Notes
- Rutgers earned its second regular season sweep of the season, having also swept Michigan State.
- The win was Rutgers' sixth top-10 win in program history, all coming over the past three seasons.
- This was the first time RU won back-to-back contests against Penn State since 1984 and 1985
- It marked the second straight season that RU won back-to-back contests against ranked Big Ten foes
- Rutgers has allowed just five goals this season, outscoring opponents 17-5.
- Gianna Mancini's goal was her first this season and third game-winning goal of her career.