PISCATWAY, N.J. – No. 8 Rutgers field hockey will open the 2022 season by hosting the "Battle on the Banks" Tournament at Bauer Field. The Scarlet Knights face No. 18 Duke Friday (1 p.m) and No. 16 St. Joe's Sunday (4 p.m.). Duke and St. Joe's will play a neutral site meeting Saturday at 2 p.m.
Admission to all three games is free. Each game will be live streamed on B1G+, with Dom Savino on the call for Friday and Saturday and Eddie Kalegi for Sunday. There will be a tournament t-shirt giveaway at the games.
About Rutgers
The Scarlet Knights are looking for an encore after the 2021 fall season for Rutgers field hockey was hands down the most successful in program history. The Scarlet Knights set milestone after milestone, notching program records for wins (19), ranked wins (13), top-10 wins (6), and earned the first ever Big Ten Tournament Championship in Rutgers Athletics history.
Rutgers returns two of its top three-point scorers from last season in sophomore
Lucy Bannatyne (eight goals, 17 points) and junior
Bridy Molyneaux (six goals, 13 points). RU will also look for contributions offensively from senior
Rachel Houston (three goals, three assists).
Iris Langejans and
Guillermina Causarano return after impactful debut campaigns. Langejans started all the games last season at right halfback and was twice earned Big Ten weekly awards. Causarano started 21 games at midfield with four points and earned a Big Ten Freshman of the Week award herself.
In between the pipes,
Sophia Howard is set to take the mantle from departed All-American
Gianna Glatz. Howard played in five games last season, with a 1.10 goals-against-average and .769 save percentage.
Bannatyne, Langejans and Causarano were all named Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch. Causarano and Howard will be joined by senior back
Isabella Mancini as the team's captains.
Rutgers will also welcome eight newcomers to the roster following the departure of 11 student-athletes from last seasons team. RU welcomes four New Jersey products (
Natalie Arnold,
Erica Babitts,
Dani Gindville and
Olivia Weir) along with four international student-athletes (
Marique Dieudonne,
Vicky Jure,
Indy van Ek and
Puck Winter).
"We're looking forward to having great support from our fan base back at home this season," head coach
Meredith Civico said. "The team feeds off that energy and we love playing at home. It's a special atmosphere and we're excited to see everyone on that opening weekend for the Battle on the Banks Tournament. It's always a great matchup when we can line up a Big Ten and ACC team to open up the year, and then St. Joe's is a great regional rival of ours. It's going to be tough competition and a great test for us on the opening weekend."
About Duke
The Blue Devils enter the season ranked No. 18 in the nation. RU will face Duke in the season opener for the second straight season at 1 p.m. on Friday, then Duke will face St. Joe's in the neutral site matchup of the tournament on Saturday at 2 p.m. Head coach Pam Bustin enters the weekend with 299 career victories. Duke's returners are led by Logan Clouser (13 points) and Hannah Miller (10 points, Preseason All-ACC). The team also boasts newcomer Charlotte van Oirschot, a Second Team All-ACC pick last year with Lousiville, and Kira Curland, who led Indiana in scoring as a freshman last season.
Last season, RU earned a 3-0 win in Durham against Duke to open the season, with
Sophia Howard making her first career start at earning the shutout.
Lucy Bannatyne scored her first collegiate goal in the game, as RU improved to 2-1-1 in the all-time series against Duke, earning the program's first victory over the Blue Devils since 1989.
About St. Joes
A frequent regional rival for RU, St. Joe's will boast a new look this season with Hannah Price entering her first season as head coach. The former St. Joe's assistant returned as the team's head coach following a successful stint as the associate head coach at Louisville.
St. Joe's and RU have played 29 times, with RU holding a 19-10 in the all-time advantage. The Hawks were one of just four teams to defeat Rutgers last season, and the Scarlet Knights seek their first win over the Hawks since 2018.
Last season, St. Joe's went 16-5 and won the Atlantic 10 Championship for the fourth time in five years. As such, they earned an NCAA Tournament berth, where they lost in a First Round matchup in Piscataway against Liberty. The team was picked as the preseason conference favorites entering this year, with Katy Benton, Freke van Tilburg, Manu Ghigliotti and Sol Borensztein tabbed for the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference Team.
