PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 19 Rutgers field hockey had a dominant team performance, earning a 2-0 win over No. 23 Ohio State on Friday afternoon at Bauer Field. The Scarlet Knights have now won six of their past seven games, improving to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten.
Rutgers established control of the game early, scoring just under three minutes into the game, and never looked back. The Scarlet Knights outshot the visitors 13-5 and held an 8-1 advantage in corners.
RU received goals from
Iris Langejans and
Lucy Bannatyne in the game, with
Marique Dieudonne picking up an assist.
Sophia Howard made five saves to earn her fourth shutout of the season.
"I feel like we're finally finding our balance and doing well on offense,"
Iris Langejans said. "It's been working well. I feel like things are coming together well and it's so cool to see. It's like a puzzle and it's great to see it all put together. We're finding a balance with each other and our connections on the field are getting better and better. I'm really excited for what this team is capable of."
The Scarlet Knights attacked out of the gate and earned three penalty corners in the early going. On the third, two initial shots were saved, before Langejans collected a rebound and lifted the game's first goal into the net.
The Scarlet Knights continued to press on the OSU goal with a number of quality scoring chances, including two shots that just deflected off the pipe and out and a goal that was disallowed. The team earned an insurance tally seven minutes into the third quarter. The Scarlet Knights inserted a corner, and
Marique Dieudonne sent the ball in from the top of the circle. Inside the circle,
Lucy Bannatyne got a deflection on the ball to put RU ahead 2-0, a score that would stand as the final tally.
The Scarlet Knights remain at home for one additional contest this weekend. RU will host No. 8 Michigan on Sunday, a noon game for the 'Stick It To Cancer' Game.
Postgame Notes:
- RU has won seven straight games over Big Ten teams dating back to last season.
- Rutgers improves to 8-6 all-time against Ohio State and now has a five-game winning streak over the Buckeyes.
- The team earned its third ranked win of the season. After a program record 13 ranked wins last season, RU now has 35 ranked wins all times, all of them coming under head coach Meredith Civico and 32 of them coming since the start of the 2017 season.
- Langejans now shares the team-high with eight points, already setting career-highs this season in goals (two), assists (four) and points (eight).
- She shares the team-lead in points with fellow Netherlands native Marique Dieudonne, who had an assist in the game to give her eight points on the year as well.
