BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No. 21 Rutgers field hockey was unable to earn a victory to open a two-game road trip to the Midwest, falling to Indiana, 2-0. The Scarlet Knights controlled much of the play, and outshot IU 6-5 on the day, but the Hoosiers broke through with a pair of fourth quarter goals to claim the victory. RU stands at 6-5 overall and 2-2 in league games.
Rutgers dominated the possession in the first quarter, but the game was played mostly in the midfield, with no shots on goal in the opening 15 minutes of action.
In the second quarter, Indiana got the game's first shot, 20 minutes into the contest off a penalty corner.
Sophia Howard was there to kick the ball away from danger. The Scarlet Knights earned a pair of late second quarter corners but were unable to convert. At halftime, the game remained scoreless, with just three shots for each side in the opening half.
The Scarlet Knights continued to press in the third quarter looking for their first tally of the day. Ten minutes into the frame, they got a series of good shots at the goal but were unable to finish on one. Rutgers outshot the home team 3-0 in the third quarter, but the game remained scoreless.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Indiana broke through. The Hoosiers, who had yet to take a shot in the second half to that point, earned a penalty corner. The home team executed on it, with the ball passed back to the inserted, who lifted the ball into the RU net. Shortly after, IU earned another corner, and again executed with a shot from the top for the 2-0 lead. Indiana had three of their four corners in the game in the final quarter, and used two of them to capitalize and seal the win to improve to 8-4 on the season.
Up next, the Big Ten road trip continues on Sunday. RU heads to Iowa City, where they will face the No. 3 ranked Hawkeyes. The final four Big Ten games of the regular season are all against teams currently ranked No. 6 or better nationally. The Iowa game starts a span of five-straight ranked matchups for RU.
