PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers field hockey is back at the Bauer Complex this Friday for the final home game of the 2024 regular season. The Scarlet Knights will host No. 17 Penn State in the team's final Big Ten Conference game, welcoming the Nittany Lions for a 2 p.m. contest on Friday afternoon.

The game will stream on B1G+, with Dom Savino and former Rutgers field hockey team captain Kerrie Burns on the call. It will also be Senior Day, with a postgame ceremony honoring the team's seniors. RU will recognize eight student-athletes and a student manager in the ceremony: Paulina Niklaus, Indy van Ek, Ava Cickavage, Lucy Bannatyne, Guillermina Causarano, Vicky Jure, Bridy Molyneaux, Sophia Howard and student-manager Amy Kim.

"We had such good energy all last week and with the two wins," Sophia Howard said. "We need to keep using that energy, keeping that up all week throughout training and preparing for Penn State."

About Rutgers

Rutgers snapped a three-game losing streak this by posting a pair of Big Ten shutouts this past weekend. RU shut out Michigan State (2-0) and then toppled No. 3 Ohio State (1-0). With the wins, Rutgers improved to 6-7 overall and 3-4 in conference play.

"We just want to look forwards now," captain Paulina Niklaus said. "The two wins last weekend were really important for us."

Sophie Kuiper scored two of the three goals for RU on the weekend, potting both game-winners and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Niklaus had the other goal, coming on a penalty stroke, and she leads the team with seven goals.

Howard backstopped the team's defense in the two shutouts, including blanking OSU's offense that entered fifth in the nation in scoring. For the second time this season, Howard was named the NFHCA's National Defensive Player of the Week.

Rutgers rose to number 14 in the NCAA's RPI rankings this week, making them the highest ranked team with less than nine win. The team has strong metrics, with two top-20 RPI wins, as six of their seven losses have come to teams to teams in the top-13 of the RPI. The team will have the opportunity to improve those numbers this week as they host PSU, who is 15 in the RPI.

About Penn State

The Nittany Lions are No. 17 in the NFHCA Coaches Poll and 15^th in the NCAA's RPI. PSU is 8-7 overall and 2-4 in league play. Penn State began the year with a 6-3 record, and is 2-4 in their past six games. All four of those losses have come against top-10 conference teams.

Sophia Gladieux (19 goals, 42 points) is second in the nation in goals per game (1.27) and third in the country in points per game (2.80). The Olympian has scored 56% of the team's goals this season, with no other Nittany Lion scoring more than three.  Freshman goalkeeper Aby Deverka has 68 saves with a .660 save percentage and 3.17 goals-against-average.

About The Series

Rutgers and Penn State will play for the 32^nd time in the school's history this season, with PSU holding the 19-9-3 advantage. Since 2021, RU has won five of the past six games, including a 1-0 victory in double overtime last season at then-No. 12 PSU.

A Win Would Represent

• Six of the last seven games in the series being won by RU
• Third ranked win of the season
• Second consecutive ranked win
• 16 ranked wins in the past five seasons
• 40 ranked wins since 2018
• 4-4 Record to Close out Big Ten Play, representing the 6^th time over the past 7 seasons RU would finish .500 or better in conference play

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.

Up Next

Rutgers has one final regular season game. The Scarlet Knights will travel to play at UMass Lowell on Friday, November 1. Following that comes the Big Ten Tournament, which starts on November 7, hosted by the University of Maryland.