COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 18 Rutgers field hockey saw another solid campaign end on Thursday afternoon, falling to No. 4 Northwestern by a score of 2-1 in overtime in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals. The Scarlet Knights, who were the No. 6 seed in the bracket, finished with an 8-10 record following the loss to No. 3 seeded Northwestern, who improved to 16-3 overall on the season. Rutgers was playing in the Big Ten Tournament as the defending champions after capturing the University's first ever Big Ten Tournament crown last season.

Rutgers' goal was scored in the game by Big Ten Freshman of the Year Puck Winter, who also picked up a defensive save. Iris Langejans and Rachel Houston each had an assist on the play, while goalkeeper Sophia Howard made eight saves. Overall, Northwestern led in shots (24-11) and corners (10-5).

All three players to record points in the game for RU were recognized by the Big Ten in Wednesday's conference awards release. Langejans, who finished the season with a team-best 16 points and eight assists, was named First Team All-Big Ten. Houston, who had a career-best three goals and five assists for 11 points, was the team's recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Winter led the team with four defensive saves, earning Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year. 

Rutgers played five games to go past regulation this season. This was the first since September 16 (the seventh game of the season) and the only one RU lost on the field (the lone other loss past regulation came in the season opener against No. 18 Duke in a shootout. RU claimed overtime wins over No. 15 UConn, at No. 25 Monmouth (double-OT) and at Michigan State. 

Rutgers' defense kept them in the game in the opening quarter. RU surrendered four penalty corners, and were outshot 5-1, but after 15 minutes, the game remained scoreless.

Northwestern kept up the pressure in the second quarter. On Northwestern's seven penalty corner of the opening half, the Wildcats nearly scored, but a huge defensive save from Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Year Puck Winter kept the game deadlocked at 0-0. However, the team surrendered another corner shortly after, and a laser shot from the top from Lauren Wadas snuck into the far post to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the 27^th minute of the game.

At halftime, Northwestern held a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats held advantages in shots (13-2) and corners (8-1) at the break.

Early in the third quarter, Rutgers scored an equalizer. The Scarlet Knights gained a corner, inserted by Langejans and stopped by Houston. Winter blasted a shot from the top of the circle, tying the game at 1-1 at the 36:19 mark. RU flipped the momentum in the third quarter, outshooting Northwestern 8-1 in the frame. The Wildcats would put seven shots up in the fourth quarter, but three saves from Howard sent the game into overtime at 1-1.

The final goal came just over three minutes into overtime. Rutgers appeared to have a Wildcats push well-defended, but the referees called for a penalty stroke. Peyton Halsey stepped to the circle and scored it, ending the game.

With the result, RU's postseason run ended and saw the season finish with an 8-10 record. That mark included five ranked wins against a schedule that saw Rutgers face 13 ranked foes. As the NCAA Tournament bracket was revealed on Sunday night, Rutgers had competed against nine teams selected for the 18-team field. RU faced Delaware, St. Joe's, Penn State, Michigan, Maryland, Princeton, Syracuse, Iowa and Northwestern for 10 of their 18 games overall, with those nine teams giving RU eight of their 10 losses on the season. The Scarlet Knights claimed wins over Northwestern and Delaware.