BERKELEY, Calif. – No. 16 Rutgers field hockey earned a 2-1 win at Cal on Monday afternoon to wrap up a 3-0 opening road trip to California.
Puck Winter and
Guillermina Causarano scored goals for the Scarlet Knights, who outshot the Bears 15-10 to earn their third win in four days.
Causarano and
Vicky Jure had assists in the game. Causarano and Winter share the team lead on the season with two goals, while Causarano has a team-high five points.
RU fell behind just four minutes into the game but rallied from there. The Scarlet Knights trailed for just three minutes before equalizing, and went ahead for good with a third quarter goal.
Cal got on the board first just four minutes into the game. Bente Baekers, a three-time First Team All-American at Northwestern, scored her first goal as a Cal Bear, finding open space down the right side and putting it home.
Rutgers answered back quickly, as the Scarlet Knights capitalized off the first penalty corner of the game. The team set the ball up for
Puck Winter, and she blasted one home for the equalizer. Inserted
Guillermina Causarano and stick-stop
Vicky Jure picked up the assists. It was the third goal of the season scored off a corner for RU through three games.
Rutgers had a great chance late in the first half, after the play following a corner led to a penalty stroke. However,
Iris Langejans' shot was kicked aside, keeping the game level at 1-1. Langejans had been 3-of-3 on penalty strokes in her career prior to that attempt, including converting one the day before in the win over Stanford. RU led in shots (8-4) and corners (3-1) at halftime but were deadlocked at 1-1.
In the third quarter, the visitors took the lead for the first time in the game. RU's initial shot from the side was kicked away, but the ball went towards the top of the circle, where
Guillermina Causarano found the ball in space. She rushed up and launched it into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.
Cal amped up the pressure in the fourth quarter, earning six penalty corners in the final frame. Rutgers defense held strong, and closed out the win.
Rutgers finished the opening weekend trip to California with a 3-0 record, playing three games in four days. It marked the first time that the team had played three games in a four-day span since winning the 2021 Big Ten Tournament.
The Scarlet Knights will remain away from home for their next four games. The lone game next weekend comes on Friday, when they play UConn, currently ranked No. 15 nationally, in a 4 p.m. contest in Storrs.
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Postgame Notes
- Rutgers improved to 3-2 all-time at Cal. The meeting was their first against the Bears since 2002.
- Winter scored for the second straight game. Winter has two goals through three games after scoring three times last season, when she was the Big Ten Co-Freshmen of the Year.
- Causarano also scored twice on the opening weekend trip, and has two goals through three games after a career-high three goals last season.
- Rutgers scored multiple goals in each game of the road trip.
- Rutgers has begun the season with a 3-0 record for the second time in the past three seasons.
Video: Goals
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