EVANSTON, Ill. – In the team's Big Ten Conference opener, No. 10 Rutgers field hockey earned the highest ranked win in modern history, earning a 2-1 comeback victory at No. 3 Northwestern. Rutgers improved to 7-1 to open the season with the win and gave RU it's best eight-game start to a season since beginning the 2008 season with a 9-1 record.
The win represented the third top-five win over Northwestern over the past two seasons. The victory was RU's sixth ranked win of the year, it's most ever.
Rutgers trailed 1-0 at halftime but came back with a furious second half charge.
Gianna Mancini and
Milena Redlingshoefer tallied goals in the second half, with Redlingshoefer providing the winning score with just six minutes to play.
RU had a 14-10 advantage in shots and 8-3 margin in corners, controlling much of the play throughout.
Gianna Glatz made two saves to secure the victory.
Northwestern got on the board first, scoring with just 1:07 left in the opening half. In a tight opening frame, Rutgers had the advantage of play with a 5-2 lead in shots on goal.
Late in the third quarter, RU evened the score.
Iris Langejans carried the ball and sent a pass across the goal.
Gianna Mancini was stationed at the back post, and she hammered the ball home to tie the game at 1-1.
In the waning minutes of the final quarter, RU took the lead for good. The Scarlet Knights inserted a corner, the pass was pushed to the top by Liz Romano, and Redlingshoefer
put in the game-winning goal.
The team is back in action on Sunday, with another road contest against No. 17 Princeton. That game starts at noon. The team then returns to Bauer Track and Field Complex next weekend for home games against Iowa (Friday) and Indiana (Sunday). Rutgers will host five regular season games in the month of October before hosting the Big Ten Tournament the first weekend in November.
Postgame Notes
- It was RU's fourth ranked road win ever.
- RU now has 25 ranked wins since Meredith Civico took over the program in 2012.
- It was RU's second straight year winning the Big Ten opener.
- The assist was the first point of Iris Langejans' career.
- Milena Redlingshoefer's game-winning goal gave tied her for the team lead with four goals and was her first goal this season not on a penalty stroke.
