AMHERST, Mass. – No. 7 Rutgers field hockey continued its best ever start to a season in program history, earning a 4-2 victory on the road at No. 18 UMass on Sunday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights improved to 9-0 during an opening stretch that included eight road games out of the nine overall games. RU dropped the Minutewomen, an experienced squad with five returning all-conference selections, to 6-4 on the season, while dealing them just their seventh home loss in the past three seasons.
Rutgers was led by three goals from
Guillermina Causarano. The hat trick was RU's second of the season, as
Puck Winter had a hat trick against Villanova just 16 days earlier. Prior to that, RU only had had one hat trick since 2017 (
Bridy Molyneaux in 2021).
Rutgers also received a goal from
Indy van Ek.
Sophia Howard made two saves in the goal.
UMass got on the board quickly, scoring in the first minute. On the first circle entry of the game for the hosts, a hard shot from in front found the back of the net for a quick 1-0 Minutewomen lead. It was just the second time all year that RU had trailed, and the first time since a 1-0 deficit early against Cal on August 28.
RU came right back though, scoring twice in a minute span to take the lead.
Indy van Ek would tally before the end of the opening period, 13 minutes into the game. van Ek tapped the ball in from the back post for a 1-0 lead.
In the final minute of the opening frame, came the second RU goal just 38 seconds later.
Paulina Niklaus drove the ball through defenders into the circle to start the play. Her pass was tipped up into the air, and
Guillermina Causarano knocked it down and into the net to put RU ahead, 2-1.
Shortly after, Causarano scored her second of the half. Off a RU offensive pressure, UMass had initially halted things, but Causarano made a great heads up play to steal the ball, catch the defense off guard, and finish the play for a goal and a 3-1 lead.
Causarano had her third goal of the day early in the fourth quarter, slotting home a shot from the top of the circle. UMass continued to press, and added a penalty stroke goal at the horn, but despite their nine shots in the final frame, RU held strong for the 4-2 win.
Up next, Rutgers will be home for the next three games, including two ranked Big Ten foes up next. RU hosts No. 8 Maryland next Thursday at 3 p.m., followed by No. 14 Michigan and Monmouth visiting the Bauer complex the following weekend.
Postgame Notes
- The victory was RU's fourth ranked win of season.
- RU matched the program's record for road wins in a season (previously done in 1993)
- Rutgers claimed its first win over UMass in 15 all-time meetings. The squads were matching up for the first time since 2007 and just the second time since 1994.
- Indy van Ek scored her first goal of the season after a team-leading five goals the year before.
- Guillermina Causarano's three goals gave her a team-leading 20 points on the year.
- Causarano shares the team-lead in goals (seven) on the year with Puck Winter.
- Causarano had her first multi-goal game of her career.
- Paulina Niklaus returned to the starting lineup after missing the past three games. This represented the first game all season where RU had a full healthy active roster. Previously, five different players with at least one start this season had combined for 11 games missed over the first eight games of the season.
