No. 3 Field Hockey Concludes Regular Season at No. 8 Iowa

Friday, October 27

Iowa City, Iowa

5:00 PM (4 PM CT)

Rutgers University

Iowa

No. 3 Field Hockey Concludes Regular Season at No. 8 Iowa

Oct 24 | Field Hockey

Live Stats B1G+ Live Stream Rutgers Game Notes

Scarlet Knights Face Hawkeyes at 5 PM ET Friday

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 3 Rutgers field hockey closes out the regular season this Friday. The Scarlet Knights are on the road in Iowa City to face No. 8 Iowa. The game time is 5 pm Eastern (4 p.m. local time).

Rutgers is 15-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes are 12-4 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten.

About Rutgers

The Scarlet Knights are ranked in the top-five in the nation in save percentage (second, .828), goals-against-average (third, 0.90) and defensive saves (fifth, nine). Puck Winter has all nine saves, tied for the nation's lead. Goalkeeper Sophia Howard is fifth nationally in goals-against-average and sixth in save percentage. Rutgers has allowed just seven goals in seven conference games, second least in the league.

Guillermina Causarano leads the team with 12 goals, seven assists and 31 points. She has scored five goals in league play, third most among Big Ten players, and is also tied for third with 11 points in Big Ten games. Causarano is one of four players with at least five goals, joined by Puck Winter (eight), Bridy Molyneaux (six) and Marique Dieudonne (five). All four players have set new career-highs this year in goals.

The Scarlet Knights have settled into a starting lineup for the last eight games (GK: Sophia Howard; B: Olivia Beattie, Puck Winter, Iris Langejans; M: Paulina Niklaus, Ava Cickavage, Lucy Bannatyne, Carly Snarski; F: Guillermina Causarano, Bridy Molyneaux, Marique Dieudonne). Off the bench, Elise Pettisani (B), Indy van Ek (F), Vicky Jure (M), Julianne Kopec (F), Noelle Leaf (F) and Olivia Fraticelli (F) have seen action in at least nine games this season.

Rutgers in Big Ten Play

The Big Ten has seven teams ranked in this week's NFHCA Poll: No. 1 Northwestern, No. 3 Rutgers, No. 7 Maryland, No. 8 Iowa, No. 11 Ohio State, No. 15 Penn State and No. 16 Michigan.

Rutgers is 35-45 (.4375) 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 29-19 over the past six seasons. Since the spring 2021 season, RU is 20-11 in Big Ten Conference regular season conference games, and 27-15 overall against Big Ten teams (including conference tournament games and games not counting towards the conference standings in the spring '21. Since the start of 2018 (through the Northwestern game), Rutgers has a 75-35 overall record (.682 winning percentage), 37 ranked wins, 13 top-10 wins and five top-five wins. In that time they've made two NCAA Tournaments, including a Big Ten Tournament championship and Elite Eight appearance.

About Iowa

Under 24th-year head coach Lisa Celluci, the Hawkeyes enter the matchup 12-4 overall and 3-4 in conference play. Iowa opened the season at 9-0 and spent four weeks ranked at No. 1 in the nation. The Hawkeyes four loses have come to ranked Big Ten teams: No. 11 Ohio State, No. 2 Northwestern, and then last weekend to both No. 9 Maryland, No. 16 Penn State.

Iowa ranks in the top-5 nationally in shutouts (second, .5 per game), scoring margin (third, 2.25), goals-against-average (fourth, 0.94) and goals per game (fifth, 3.19).

Freshman Dionne van Aalsum has scored 25 goals this season, the most of any player in the nation. The Dutch first-year player scored 21 goals through the first eight games of the season, as has just four goals since the start of conference play, and two goals in seven conference games. Goalkeeper Mia Magnotta holds a 0.94 goals-against-average and .789 save percentage, both top-10 nationally.

Rutgers is 3-10-1 all-time against Iowa. RU's three wins all came consecutively between 2016 and 2018, with Iowa claiming the four matchups since. Iowa was ranked in all three RU wins (No. 7, No. 15 and No. 19).

A win would mean:

The 16^th win of the season be the second most wins ever in a season for the Scarlet Knights. Only the Big Ten Tournament champion 2021 team (19-4) won more games in a season.
The seventh Big Ten Conference win of the season, a program record for regular season conference wins.
Rutgers' fourth all-time win over Iowa and first since 2018.

Big Ten Standings

Rutgers is set to finish as a second-place team, tied for RU's best-ever Big Ten finish. RU was also second in 2021, when the team won the Big Ten Tournament. RU will either finish 7-1 in conference play (with a win) and be the sole second place team, or with a loss will be 6-2, and tie for second place with Maryland (6-2). Because RU defeated Maryland in the regular season, RU is assured of being the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. The event will be hosted by the University of Michigan beginning with Quarterfinals on November 2. As the No. 2 seed, RU will play in the second quarterfinal game on Thursday, facing the No. 7 seed at approximately 2 p.m. The seven seed will be the winner of Friday night's No. 16 Michigan - Michigan State game.

Milestone Tracker

Guillermina Causarano has 12 goals and 31 points this season. With one more goal, she would have sole possession of seventh place and the most goals in a season by a RU player since Amy Lewis in 2008. She needs three goals to tie for sixth. She is currently tied for eighth on the single-season points list and needs four points to tie for seventh.