PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 10 Rutgers field hockey its second consecutive split location weekend, hosting No. 20 Monmouth on Friday afternoon and then traveling to No. 22 Delaware on Sunday.
Friday's game will be live streamed on B1G+ with Dom Savino and Marybeth Freeman on the call. Sunday's stream can be accessed via Flo Sports.
The theme for Friday's game will be Fun in the Sun, while Rutgers will honor its Healthcare Heroes. There will be a giveaway of Rutgers' mini-hand sanitizers with an ice cream truck appearance.
Rutgers enters the weekend at 4-1 overall. The team has compiled three ranked wins this season already, downing No. 12 Duke and No. 6 UConn on the road and defeating No. 16 Syracuse last weekend. The Scarlet Knights have three ranked wins this season and 22 ranked wins overall since
Meredith Civico took over the program in 2012 after claiming their first victory over Syracuse since 2003.
The Scarlet Knights will be looking to add to that ledger with two more ranked opponents this weekend. RU is in a stretch where nine of their first 10 opponents this season are ranked, and 14 of the 18 teams currently on the season schedule are all in the rankings.
Rutgers is led offensively by
Milena Redlingshoefer, who paces the team with six assists and has added two goals for a team-best 10 points. Her six assists and average of 1.2 per game are tied for the nation's lead. As a team, RU is in the top-20 nationally in assists, goals-against-average, goals per game, penalty corners and points per game.
RU's goal leader is freshman
Lucy Bannatyne, who scored the game-winning goal last Friday in double overtime to defeat Syracuse, her team-best third tally on the season. After scoring two goals on the opening weekend, she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, one of three weekly winners for RU from the Big Ten Conference this season, joining
Kerrie Burns (Defensive) and
Iris Langejans (Freshman).
In goal,
Gianna Glatz has a 1.42 goals-against-average and .615 save percentage. She missed the first two games of the season while she was playing with Team USA in the Junior Pan American Cup, leading the squad to a bronze medal.
Monmouth comes into the contest ranked No. 20 in the nation after a 4-2 start to the season, earning the highest ranking in school history. The Hawks claimed a ranked win when they downed No. 17 Delaware, the second ranked win in program history and highest ranked opponent MU ever beat. That start included a four-game winning streak that was snapped by a 1-0 overtime loss to No. 13 Harvard Sunday. The Hawks claimed a ranked win when they downed No. 17 Delaware, RU's Sunday opponent. That was the second ranked win in Monmouth program history and highest ranked opponent MU ever beat. Annick van Lange and Lorane Vanneste are tied for the team lead in points with 12 apiece, with both netting five goals and two assists.
Rutgers holds a 5-4 lead in the all-time series against Monmouth. The last meeting came in West Long Branch in 2019, a 2-1 victory behind two goals from
Katie Larmour, which broke a 30-game home winning streak for Monmouth. RU has won four of the past five matchups dating back to 2012.
Delaware enters the weekend ranked No. 22 in the nation. With just a 2-4 mark to start the season, the Blue Hens have faced four ranked opponents, defeating No. 18 Old Dominion and falling to No. 8 UVA, No. 15 Harvard and No. 9 Penn State. They face another ranked foe in No. 18 Princeton on Friday night.
UD is led offensively by Julia Duffhuis, who has three goals and seven points. Grace Hoepfner and Kiki Oudshoorn each have two goals, while Femke Strien has attempted 23 shots through six contests, scoring just once. In goal, Lizzie Gaebel has played every second, with a 1.83 goals-against-average and .703 save percentage.
Rutgers and Delaware have played 32 times lifetime, with the Blue Hens holding a 20-9-3 advantage including an 11-2-2 mark at home. Rutgers' last win in the series came in a 2-1 win at home on September 30, 2018 over No. 19 Delaware.
