PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 20 Rutgers field hockey has one last regular season game, as the Scarlet Knights hit the road this weekend. The team will play a contest at UMass Lowell, which starts at noon on Friday.
The Scarlet Knights enter the weekend at 7-7 overall and finished Big Ten play with a 4-4 league record. RU returned to the NFHCA Coaches Poll this week at No. 20, and importantly moved up to number 13 in the NCAA's RPI. RU has strong metrics this season, as they have wins over three teams (Ohio State, Iowa and Penn State) in the top-20 of the RPI. Despite having seven losses, all of those came against teams in the top-25 of the RPI, and six of those seven losses have come against teams in the top-14 of this week's RPI.
RU has navigated a challenging schedule, with nine of the 14 opponents spending time in the national rankings. The Scarlet Knights have gotten hot at the right time late in the season, currently on the team's longest winning streak of the season (three). The team has a trio of consecutive shutouts, blanking Michigan State, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 17 Penn State for those three wins. RU has three ranked wins on the season, the last two contests versus No. 3 OSU and No. 17 PSU, and an earlier win over then-No. 7 Iowa.
The Scarlet Knights earned a 4-4 record in Big Ten play. That was the sixth time over the past seven seasons that RU finishes .500 or better in league play, all while facing top competition in the nation's best conference that perennially features over half of the league's teams in the national rankings weekly.
The Scarlet Knights are the lone Big Ten team to already complete their conference slate. This weekend also features matchups between Michigan State and Indiana, Ohio State versus Northwestern, Maryland against Penn State, and Michigan facing Iowa. Those games will determine seeding for the Big Ten Tournament, hosted by the University of Maryland, with action starting on Thursday, November 7. The tournament format features the Quarterfinals on Thursday, Semifinals on Friday and Championship Game Sunday.
Rutgers can finish no higher than third place in the league's standings, as Northwestern (7-0) and Maryland (5-2) are guaranteed to finish with more wins than RU. Ohio State and Michigan each enter the weekend at 4-3, and if each win their respective games, they would finish ahead of the Scarlet Knights. With RU at 4-4, Michigan and Ohio State each at 4-3, and Indiana at 3-4, plus none of those teams facing each other this weekend, there remains the possibility of a four-way tie for third place. With potential tiebreakers, RU can finish as low as sixth place among the seven teams heading to the league tournament. They are guaranteed to finish with a better record than Iowa (2-5), Penn State (2-5) and Michigan State (1-6). This will place RU in Game 1 (#4 Seed vs. #5 Seed at 11 am) or Game 3 (#3 Seed vs. #6 Seed at 5 pm) on Quarterfinal Thursday. A potential Semifinal matchup on Friday would be either at 1 pm (Winner of Game 1 vs. #1 Seed) or 3:30 pm (Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3). On Sunday, the Big Ten Championship Game would be at 11 a.m.
Guillermina Causarano leads RU with 21 points on a team-best nine assists with six goals.
Paulina Niklaus has the team lead with seven goals and is second with 17 points. Eight other players have scored between 1 and 4 goals this season.
Sophia Howard, a two-time Big Ten and NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week, has a 1.79 goals-against-average and .675 save percentage across 14 starts, with 52 saves.
Umass Lowell enters the game with an 8-7 record out of the America East. The team is No. 42 in the RPI, and boasts a 7-0 record at home, though they've been undone by a 1-7 road record. The River Hawks are coming off a 14-4 record last season and are 26-11 over the previous two seasons. In their last 30 home games, UMass Lowell is 26-4. The team has allowed just three goals in home games this season, with four home shutouts. Madison Leeper leads the team with 11 goals and 22 points. Karlie Penrod has added six goals.
The team splits their goalkeeper duties. Christina Calandra has a 2.13 goals-against-average and .636 save percentage at the starter. She has played 450 minutes. In the second halves, Marie Oliemans has appeared in all 15 games (439 minutes) and boasts a 1.50 goals-against-average and .849 save percentage.
Rutgers and UMass Lowell will play this season for the first time in the two programs' history. RU is 23-14 all-time against the America East Conference.
