IOWA CITY, Iowa – No. 3 Rutgers field hockey concluded the regular season on Friday evening, falling 7-2 at No. 8 Iowa. The Scarlet Knights finish the regular season at 15-2 overall and 6-2 in Big Ten play. Iowa improved to 13-4 overall, 4-4 in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights finished the season in second place in the Big Ten, matching 6-2 conference records with Maryland, who RU beat during the regular season.

Paulina Niklaus and Marique Dieudonne scored goals for RU. Niklaus has now scored in back-to-back games following her goal in the game last Sunday against No. 1 Northwestern.

Shots were even at 12-12. RU had a 10-5 advantage in corners. 

Game Summary

The first quarter went by without much action. Early in the second quarter, Iowa pressed through at the RU goal and earned a series of corners. RU made three saves on the initial two corners, but a third corner was earned by the Hawkeyes. In the 20^th minute of action, a shot from the nation's leading goal scorer, Dionne van Aalsum, went through for a 1-0 Iowa lead.

The Hawkeyes took the 1-0 lead into halftime. In the first half, Iowa had a 4-0 advantage in both shots and corners.

The third quarter started off with a goal-scoring flurry, with the teams combining for three goals in the first six minutes of the frame and four goals in the first nine minutes of the third.

Iowa expanded their lead to 100 seconds into the quarter, carrying through the right side of the field and scoring.

Rutgers answered right back, capitalizing on their first corner of the game. Paulina Niklaus took the first shot of the game for RU, putting home the goal with assists to Lucy Bannatyne and Iris Langejans. It was the second straight game with a goal for Niklaus.

However, Iowa came back with two goals of their own. The Hawkeyes used quick counterstrikes to push their lead out to 4-1 after 39 minutes of gameplay. The Hawkeyes added three goals in the fourth quarter, with Marique Diuedonne also tallying in the fourth quarter for the visitors.

Up Next

The Scarlet Knights will begin the postseason with the Big Ten Tournament. The event will be hosted by the University of Michigan, starting with the Quarterfinals on Wednesday, Nov. 2. As the No. 2 seed, RU will play in the second quarterfinal game on Thursday, facing the No. 7 seeded Michigan Wolverines at approximately 2 p.m.