PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 8 Rutgers field hockey earned its first win of the season on Wednesday afternoon, taking down La Salle, 2-0. The Scarlet Knights were led by goals from
Lucy Bannatyne and
Indy van Ek in the contest, with
Sophia Howard securing the shutout in goal.
Rutgers controlled much of the play, as they out shot the Explorers 16-5 and had a 6-1 advantage in penalty corners. Howard made one save in earning the shutout.
RU struck first late in the opening quarter. After a penalty corner,
Puck Winter took a shot that was blocked by the defense.
Lucy Bannatyne corralled the ball and fired it home for a 1-0 lead.
Rutgers second goal also came following a corner.
Guillermina Causarano slid the ball across the crease, where
Indy van Ek was stationed at the back line to send it home.
The Scarlet Knight defense stifled any comeback hopes for La Salle, as the home side had a 6-0 margin in shots in the final quarter, not allowing any late push on their goal.
Quotable
"To get this win was really important. This is a young team, a new team. We're disappointed with our opening weekend, but Duke was a great game, we battled. St. Joe's, the score didn't really reflect the game, which was unfortunate. We did lots of learning from both of those matches and the team worked so hard on that off day to reset, look at the games, look at some things we really needed to improve on and they did that today. They're a group that wants to be successful. They have a standard. I'm really excited to see them continue to grow."
Gallery: (8-31-2022) Field Hockey Defeats La Salle
Postgame Notes
- The victory extended RU's all-time series advantage over La Salle to 16-2-1 with four straight wins. This marked the first meeting between the teams since 2013.
- Indy van Ek's goal was the first of her career.
- Bannatyne's goal was her first of the season. She entered the season as RU's returning leading scorer with eight goals last season.
- Guillermina Causarano had the assist on the Indy van Ek goal, RU's lone assist on the season thus far.
