PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers field hockey is set for a pair of road games this weekend. The Scarlet Knights, who are 4-4 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten play, hit the road to face No. 2 Northwestern (Friday at 4 pm) and Indiana (Sunday at noon). Both games will be live streamed on B1G+.

Rutgers is coming off a momentous win last Friday, downing No. 7 Iowa, 3-2, following a penalty shootout. Paulina Niklaus had her first career multi-goal game with two tallies in the victory. Goalkeeper Sophia Howard had a season-high six saves, and also halted three of four penalty shootout attempts. Howard was named both the NFHCA National Defensive Player of the Week and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts. Freshman Anna Cogdell was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.

Guillermina Causarano is ninth in the nation in both points per game (2.25) and assists per game (0.75), ranking second in the conference in helpers. Her six goals, six assists and 18 points leads the team. Kara Heck follows with four goals and nine points.

Rutgers stands at number 19 in this week's NCAA RPI rankings. RU has wins over two-top 25 RPI teams (13 Iowa and 22 Monmouth). All four of their losses have come by one goal to teams in the top 16 in the RPI, with three of those teams in the top seven of the RPI.

Milestone Tracker

Guillermina Causarano has 22 goals in her career, which is eighth most in program history. Two more will tie her with Linde van Schaik for seventh (24 from 2015-18) and three more will tie her with Mary Beth Dwyer for sixth (25 from 1982-85).
 
Puck Winter has five defensive saves on the season. The Big Ten's leader in defensive saves and last season's NCAA leader in the statistic, Winter has 20 defensive saves in her career, the second most all-time at RU. The all-time leader at RU is Brandi Bailey, who had 24 from 1993-1996.
 
Bridy Molyneaux has 19 goals in her career. Her next score would make her the 16^th RU player with 20 career goals, and just the fifth to notch 20 career goals in the past 15 years.

About Northwestern

Northwestern enters the weekend at 10-0 overall. Their unbeaten opening stretch has included ranked wins over No. 5 Duke, No. 17 BC, No. 9 Louisville, No. 4 Iowa, No. 5 Maryland and No. 16 Princeton. The Wildcats have a scoring margin on the year of 2.2, fifth best nationally.

Goalkeeper Annabel Skubisz leads the nation in goals-against-average (0.3) and save percentage (.927). A First Team All-American and last year's Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year, she has allowed just three goals on 43 shots on goal this year, with eight shutouts through 10 games.

Ashley Sessa leads the team with 20 points (seven goals, six assists). Ilse Trompe and Maddie Zimmer each have 10 points. Sessa (a Three-Time All-American) and Zimmer each played on the USA Olympic team this summer.

Rutgers and Northwestern face off for the 16^th time this year. The Wildcats are 10-5 in the series, but Rutgers is 4-3 in the last seven meetings.  The Scarlet Knights have five ranked wins all-time against Northwestern, with four of those coming against a top-five ranked Wildcats squad.

A Win over No. 2 Northwestern would represent

• Second straight ranked win
• Second straight top-10 win
• 15^th ranked win over the past five seasons and 39^th since 2018
• 15^th top-10 win since April of 2021
• Sixth all-time win over Northwestern and improving to 5-3 in the last eight meetings
• Sixth ranked win over Northwestern and fifth top-five win over Northwestern

About Indiana

The Hoosiers enter the weekend at 3-5 overall and 0-2 in Big Ten play. IU holds wins over Kent State, Ball State and Lock Haven, while three of their five losses are to ranked foes. Indiana has outscored its foes 13-12 this season prior to the weekend's opener Friday as they host No. 5 Maryland.

Yip van Wonderen has four goals while Ines Garcia Prado and Sydney Keld have three. The trio were all Big Ten preseason players to watch this season, with Keld and van Wonderen boasting over 60 career starts. Goalkeeper Sadie Canelli is ninth nationally with a 1.03 goals-against-average and 14^th nationally with a save percentage of .783.

Rutgers will play Indiana for the 15^th time this season, having previously earned an 11-3-1 record in the all-time series. The Scarlet Knights are 7-1 against the Hoosiers since 2017, and have outscored IU 20-5 in that span.

Rutgers sophomore Maddie Olshemski will look to meet up against her former team, as she played in 11 games last season as a freshman at IU prior to transferring to Rutgers.

A win over Indiana would represent:

• 14-3-1 all-time against IU
• 8-1 versus the Hoosiers since 2017

Up Next

Rutgers remains on the road next weekend to make this a three-game swing away from home. RU travels to Ann Arbor to play at No. 6 Michigan on Friday, October 11.