No. 4 Field Hockey Back On the Road This Weekend

Friday, October 13

Columbus, Ohio

3:00 PM

Rutgers University

Ohio State

Photo by: Ben Solomon

No. 4 Field Hockey Back On the Road This Weekend

Oct 10 | Field Hockey

Friday at OSU Live Stream Friday at OSU Live Stats Sunday at Michigan State Live Stream Sunday at Michigan State Live Stats Rutgers Game Notes

Scarlet Knights Play at No. 9 Ohio State (Friday) and Michigan State (Sunday)

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 4 Rutgers field hockey is back on the road this weekend to play two Big Ten teams. The Scarlet Knights will face No. 9 Ohio State on Friday (3 pm) and Michigan State on Sunday (1 pm).

Rutgers is fourth nationally in save percentage, fifth in goals-against-average and sixth in defensive saves. Puck Winter's six defensive saves are second nationally, while Sophia Howard is eighth in goals-against-average. Rutgers has outscored opponents 32-12, allowing an average of just 1.00 goals-per-game.

Guillermina Causarano is the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, and has won the award twice in the past three weeks. She leads the team with 10 goals, RU's first double-digit goal scorer since 2018. She is one of five players with multiple goals, alongside Puck Winter (seven), Marique Dieudonne (four), Bridy Molyneaux (three) and Julianne Kopec (three).

The team's backline has been key, with goalkeeper Sophia Howard having a career-best year in the cage. Howard has a 0.91 goals-against-average and a .789 save percentage.

"The team has a great commitment to training every day and taking each game one at a time," Howard explained. "We talk about family every day. Every single person is truly 100% committed to this team. We really are a family. We're looking out for each other. We're looking to really bring the intesity every day going into a big weekend against Big Ten teams and translating that into games."

The Big Ten has seven teams ranked in this week's NFHCA Poll: No. 1 Northwestern, No. 4 Rutgers, No. 6 Iowa, No. 9 Ohio State, No. 10 Maryland, No. 15 Penn State and No. 16 Michigan. Rutgers is 3-0 against those ranked Big Ten teams so far and has three games remaining against top-10 teams.

Rutgers is 32-44 (.421) in 10 seasons of Big Ten Conference regular season play (not including the team's 3-8 conference tournament record). Since starting 7-26 in the first four years of acclimating to the league, RU is 26-18 over the past six seasons. Since the spring 2021 season, RU is 17-10 in Big Ten Conference regular season conference games, and 24-14 overall against Big Ten teams (including conference tournament games and games not counting towards the conference standings in the spring '21

Rutgers' last 23 games against Big Ten teams have featured 17 matchups against ranked teams. In those 22 games, RU is 15-8 with 10 ranked wins. RU has 14 ranked wins over Big Ten teams since the resumption of field hockey in the spring 2021 season.

Milestone Tracker

Guillermina Causarano sits 11^th in a single-season at RU with 26 points. She is two points out of 10^th, three from ninth, and five from eighth. Additionally, two more goals will place her into a tie for the seventh most goals in a single-season at RU.

About the Opponents

Ohio State enters the game at 12-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play, including wins over Michigan and then-No. 1 Iowa. The Buckeyes are top-five nationally in goals, penalty scorners, points, scoring average and scoring margin. The Buckeyes have outscored opponents 49-18, averaging 3.27 goals per game. Makenna Webster leads the team with 15 goals, eight assists and 38 points, while Julie Rodjik and Brenna Bough each have eight goals. Webster is third in the Big Ten in goals and points per game. In goal, Abby Danson has a 1.17 goals-against average and .738 save percentage. After entering the season unranked by the coaches poll, they've climbed as high as No. 7 in the rankings prior to this week's No. 9.

Rutgers holds an 8-6 record in the all-time series, which dates back to a first meeting in 1979 but was contested just three times prior to RU joining the Big Ten in 2014. Rutgers has won five straight meetings in the series dating back to 2019. Last season, Iris Langejans and Lucy Bannatyne scored and Sophia Howard made five saves in a 2-0 shutout win.

With a Win:

The 13^th win of the season would mark the third time since 2018 that RU reached 13 wins in a season. Prior to 2018, RU had gotten 13 wins just once since 1998.
RU would improve to 9-6 vs. OSU and earn the program's sixth straight win over the Buckeyes.
Not only would it be the first ever 4-0 start to Big Ten Conference play, but it would be the first time since joining the league that RU won four straight regular season conference games.
Rutgers would earn its seventh ranked win of the season, 12th ranked win over the past two seasons, the 25th ranked win over the past three seasons and the 29th ranked win since the spring 2021 season along with the 45^th ranked win for RU since Meredith Civico took over as the head coach.
Rutgers would be 26-18 over the past six seasons in Big Ten play.
RU would be 16-8 in their last 24 games against Big Ten teams with 11 ranked wins.
It would be the team's second top-10 win of the season (after also beating No. 8 Maryland).

Michigan State, under 13^th year head coach Helen Knull, enters the weekend at 3-8 overall, 1-4 in conference play, with the win coming at home versus Indiana, and also pushing Ohio State into overtime. The Spartans have been outscored 25-11 overall on the season, including a combined 12-1 in their last three games in conference losses to Northwestern, Iowa and Maryland. Emma O'Neill and Ellie Rutherford each have three goals on the year. Goalkeeper Cecily Charles is second nationally at 7.5 saves per game, as MSU has surrendered 15.1 shots per game.

Rutgers is 10-8-1 all-time against Michigan State. Since 2017, RU has won seven straight games against MSU. In that span, they've outscored the Spartans 24-8. Last season, MSU pushed the game to overtime, but Iris Langejans scored on a penalty stroke to clinch the game. Puck Winter and Indy van Ek also tallied in that game versus the Spartans.

With Two Wins

14 wins would mark just the second time reaching 14 wins under Civico, and just the sixth time in program history reaching 14 wins.
RU would improve to 11-8-1 all-time against MSU and have won eight straight against the Spartans.

Up Next

Following this road weekend, RU is back home the following weekend. On Friday, Oct. 20, RU hosts Indiana for a nationally televised game on BTN that will also be Senior Day. On Sunday, Oct. 22, Rutgers hosts Letterwinners Day, with a pregame brunch prior to an 11 a.m. game against Northwestern. Letterwinners can RSVP to brunch here.