PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 15 Rutgers field hockey returns to the road to face No. 6 UConn on Friday night (6 p.m.). The game marks RU's second road contest against a team ranked in the top-12 nationally during its first three contests of the season. Fans can watch the game via a live stream on Flo Sports and live stats will be available here.

The Scarlet Knights opened the 2021 fall campaign with a 2-0 record traveling to Durham, North Carolina and winning two games in a 12-hour span. Rutgers opened the season with a 3-0 shutout victory over No. 12 Duke. RU earned the shutout victory behind sophomore goalkeeper Sophia Howard in her first career start in the cage, as All-American goalkeeper Gianna Glatz was with Team USA in Chile for the Junior Pan American Cup, where she guided the squad to a bronze medal. The win marked the Scarlet Knights' first victory over an active ACC team since 1989, the program's highest ranked road win since September of 2019, and was the 20th ranked win for RU since head coach Meredith Civico took over the program in 2012. 

On Saturday, the Scarlet Knights downed Richmond 5-2 to complete the weekend sweep. Rutgers got off to a 2-0 start for the fifth straight season.

Freshman Lucy Bannatyne was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week after she scored a goal in each contest. Milena Redlingshoefer led the team with six points, scoring a goal and adding four assists. Tayla Parkes shared the team lead for goals with Bannatyne with two tallies, as RU had six different goal scorers overall. 

"UConn is always a good team and it's away and they have something to prove after their opening weekend,'' said Meredith Civico.  "We have to stay disciplined and play our hockey. We know we have to do some things better. We have to be opportunistic and make it count when we have chances. I expect a really good game."

UConn went 1-1 on opening weekend, claiming a 2-1 win over No. 21 Miami (Ohio) after falling 4-0 to No. 4 Northwestern. Preseason, the Huskies were picked as the preseason favorite in the BIG EAST.  Four Huskies earned preseason All-Conference nods with Kourtney Kennedy, Claire Jandewerth, Abby Gooderham and Jessica Dembrowski all receiving recognition. Dembrowski was a First Team All-American last season. The program holds five NCAA Tournament championships, most recently earning three from 2013-2017. 

RU is 2-29-1 all-time against UConn, with the last win coming in 2001, as well as a victory in 1995, last meeting in 2019. The teams also met in the 2018 NCAA Tournament, with that matchup (held in College Park, Md.) was RU's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1986. 

A win against No. 6 UConn would marked the seventh top-10 win for the program in the past three seasons. It would mark the fifth time in the last four seasons that RU defeated a team ranked sixth or higher.