Thursday, September 28
Piscataway, N.J.
3:00 PM
Rutgers University
vs
Maryland
Photo by: Ben Solomon
No. 6 Field Hockey Hosts No. 8 Maryland Thursday
Sep 26 | Field Hockey
3 PM Game between top-10 teams
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 6 Rutgers field hockey brings a 9-0 overall and 1-0 Big Ten record into just their second home game of the season, the conference home opener against No. 8 Maryland. The game is at 3 p.m. on Thursday at the Bauer Complex. The game also streams on B1G+, with Dom Savino and Eddie Kalegi on the call.
The game will be designated as "Throwback Thursday", with Rutgers field hockey pennants as the giveaway. Throwback photos of the players and throwback songs selected by the players will be featured during the contest. It is the first time Rutgers field hockey plays on a Thursday during the regular season since 2012, and the first time ever in the Big Ten.
Rutgers has outscored opponents 23-7 on the season, averaging 2.56 goals per game while allowing just 0.78 per game. Rutgers is second nationally in save percentage (.829), third in goals-against-average (0.72) and fourth in shutouts per game. Sophia Howard ranks sixth nationally in save percentage and seventh in goals-against-average.
Guillermina Causarano and Puck Winter share the team lead with seven goals. Each has a hat trick this season. After Causarano's three-goal effort in downing No. 18 UMass, she holds the team-lead with 20 points. Winter has 14 points. The duo has combined for 34 points, while the rest of the team has combined for 30. The duo has 14 of the team's 23 goals on the year. Winter also leads the team with three defensive saves. Causarano is fourth in the Big Ten in points per game and 13th nationally. Both are tied for sixth in the league in goals, while Causarano is second in the league in assists.
Causarano was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week Monday after three goals at UMass. It was the third week in a row a RU player was recognized by the Big Ten, after Puck Winter and Sophia Howard earned Defensive honors. It represented the first Offensive Player of the Week for RU since Austyn Cuneo, who received the accolade twice in 2019, most recently on the last weekend of October.
Maryland stands at 7-2 on the season, with nine days off since a win over No. 6 Virginia last Monday. The Terps have four common opponents with RU, with the same 3-0 mark in the California road trip, plus the Terps lost to Princeton. The team is top-10 in scoring average and scoring margin nationally.
Hope Rose, a 2022 First Team All-American, leads the team with nine goals. Paige Kieft (1.73 GAA, .696 save percentage) and Alyssa Klebasko (0.42 GAA, .895 save percentage) have split time in goal.
Maryland holds a 35-4-1 advantage in the all-time series versus Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights earned a historic win in the 2021 meeting with the program's first win over the Terps since 1998. The victory was the first win for Rutgers' head coach Meredith Civico against the school she won a national championship for in 2005 and marked RU's first victory over Maryland since 1998, the final Big Ten foe for RU to defeat since joining the league. Last season, returners Marique Dieudonne, Indy van Ek and Guillermina Causarano scored in a game that was 3-3 before Maryland scored the game winner with just 41 seconds to play.
The Big Ten Conference has seven of its nine teams ranked this week: No. 1 Iowa, No. 3 Northwestern, No. 6 Rutgers, No. 8 Maryland, No. 11 Ohio State, No. 15 Michigan and No. 16 Penn State. RU faces No. 8 Maryland and No. 15 Michigan in its next two conference games, both coming at home.
Rutgers is 30-44 (.405) in nine 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 24-18 over the past six seasons. Since the spring 2021 season, RU is 15-10 in Big Ten Conference regular season conference games, and 22-14 overall against Big Ten teams (including conference tournament games and games not counting towards the conference standings in the spring '21
Rutgers last 21 games against Big Ten teams have featured 15 matchups against ranked teams. In those 21 games, RU is 13-8 with eight ranked wins. RU has 12 ranked wins over Big Ten teams since the resumption of field hockey in the spring 2021 season.
Since the start of 2018, Rutgers has a 68-34 record (.667 winning percentage), 33 ranked wins, 10 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.
With a Win over Maryland…
The game will be designated as "Throwback Thursday", with Rutgers field hockey pennants as the giveaway. Throwback photos of the players and throwback songs selected by the players will be featured during the contest. It is the first time Rutgers field hockey plays on a Thursday during the regular season since 2012, and the first time ever in the Big Ten.
Rutgers has outscored opponents 23-7 on the season, averaging 2.56 goals per game while allowing just 0.78 per game. Rutgers is second nationally in save percentage (.829), third in goals-against-average (0.72) and fourth in shutouts per game. Sophia Howard ranks sixth nationally in save percentage and seventh in goals-against-average.
Guillermina Causarano and Puck Winter share the team lead with seven goals. Each has a hat trick this season. After Causarano's three-goal effort in downing No. 18 UMass, she holds the team-lead with 20 points. Winter has 14 points. The duo has combined for 34 points, while the rest of the team has combined for 30. The duo has 14 of the team's 23 goals on the year. Winter also leads the team with three defensive saves. Causarano is fourth in the Big Ten in points per game and 13th nationally. Both are tied for sixth in the league in goals, while Causarano is second in the league in assists.
Causarano was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week Monday after three goals at UMass. It was the third week in a row a RU player was recognized by the Big Ten, after Puck Winter and Sophia Howard earned Defensive honors. It represented the first Offensive Player of the Week for RU since Austyn Cuneo, who received the accolade twice in 2019, most recently on the last weekend of October.
Maryland stands at 7-2 on the season, with nine days off since a win over No. 6 Virginia last Monday. The Terps have four common opponents with RU, with the same 3-0 mark in the California road trip, plus the Terps lost to Princeton. The team is top-10 in scoring average and scoring margin nationally.
Hope Rose, a 2022 First Team All-American, leads the team with nine goals. Paige Kieft (1.73 GAA, .696 save percentage) and Alyssa Klebasko (0.42 GAA, .895 save percentage) have split time in goal.
Maryland holds a 35-4-1 advantage in the all-time series versus Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights earned a historic win in the 2021 meeting with the program's first win over the Terps since 1998. The victory was the first win for Rutgers' head coach Meredith Civico against the school she won a national championship for in 2005 and marked RU's first victory over Maryland since 1998, the final Big Ten foe for RU to defeat since joining the league. Last season, returners Marique Dieudonne, Indy van Ek and Guillermina Causarano scored in a game that was 3-3 before Maryland scored the game winner with just 41 seconds to play.
The Big Ten Conference has seven of its nine teams ranked this week: No. 1 Iowa, No. 3 Northwestern, No. 6 Rutgers, No. 8 Maryland, No. 11 Ohio State, No. 15 Michigan and No. 16 Penn State. RU faces No. 8 Maryland and No. 15 Michigan in its next two conference games, both coming at home.
Rutgers is 30-44 (.405) in nine 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 24-18 over the past six seasons. Since the spring 2021 season, RU is 15-10 in Big Ten Conference regular season conference games, and 22-14 overall against Big Ten teams (including conference tournament games and games not counting towards the conference standings in the spring '21
Rutgers last 21 games against Big Ten teams have featured 15 matchups against ranked teams. In those 21 games, RU is 13-8 with eight ranked wins. RU has 12 ranked wins over Big Ten teams since the resumption of field hockey in the spring 2021 season.
Since the start of 2018, Rutgers has a 68-34 record (.667 winning percentage), 33 ranked wins, 10 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.
With a Win over Maryland…
- Rutgers would earn its first top-10 win of the season.
- It would be RU's 12th top-10 win since the spring 2021 season.
- Rutgers would earn its fifth ranked win of the season, 10th ranked win over the past two seasons, the 23rd ranked win over the past three seasons and the 27th ranked win since the spring 2021 season along with the 43rd ranked win for RU since Meredith Civico took over as the head coach.
- Fifth win ever against vs. Maryland and 2-1 in the last three meetings, with both wins coming over a Maryland team ranked No. 8.
- A 2-0 start in the Big Ten for a second straight season
- RU would be 14-7 against Big Ten teams over the past three seasons (66.7%).
- 10 wins in a season for the fourth time since 2018. Prior to 2018, RU had won 10 games in a season just once in the previous 18 seasons.
Players Mentioned
M
/ Field Hockey
F
/ Field Hockey
GK
/ Field Hockey
F
/ Field Hockey
B
/ Field HockeyRutgers Field Hockey at Penn State Highlights
Saturday, November 01
Rutgers Field Hockey: Win at Indiana Highlights
Friday, October 10
Rutgers Athletics Launches the Athletic Excellence Fund
Monday, October 06
Rutgers Field Hockey Highlights At Michigan State - October 3, 2025
Friday, October 03
