Field Hockey Season Preview

Rutgers field hockey is set for an eagerly awaited campaign in 2024. Building off of a standout campaign last fall, the Scarlet Knights bring a blend of talented newcomers and experienced veterans to the field for the upcoming season. With the roster assembled, the team is looking to make an impact on the field. 

The Scarlet Knights are dreaming big. Since the start of 2018, Rutgers has a 75-38 record for a 66.7% winning percentage. In that time, RU has made three NCAA Tournaments, won the 2021 Big Ten Tournament, and claimed 37 ranked wins, including 12 victories over top-10 foes. Now, RU is looking to keep pushing forward for major achievements.

So how do you do that? You take it one step at a time, putting one foot in front of the other. The ultimate goals are high, but its important for the team to stay focused at every step along the way. 

Rutgers returns for 2024 looking to continue the positive momentum from the 2023 season, which was one of the top campaigns in program history. Last season, Rutgers won 16 games and made the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the past six seasons. 

The Scarlet Knights were ranked in every poll, peaking at No. 3 in the nation, and were in the top-10 in eight of the 11 polls this past season. RU downed eight ranked teams during the year and began the year with a 15-0 start, the last undefeated team in Division I field hockey and the first Rutgers program to open a year at 15-0 since 1986-87. 

79% of the team's goal-scoring from last season returns, with seven of the ten student-athletes who recorded at least one goal last year coming back. 78% of the team's point-scoring returns (9 of the 13 players to record at least one point return). The Scarlet Knights had a program record six student-athletes named All-Region last year, and five of those return to The Banks for this upcoming season. 

Puck Winter

• 2023 Awards: Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Second Team All-American, First Team All-Big Ten, First Team All-Region

Last season, Winter held the nation’s lead with 12 defensive saves. That was the second highest single season total in program history. With 16 defensive saves in her career, Winter is third all-time in defensive saves. She trails just Tiffany Klebez (19 from 2001-04) and Brandi Bailey (24 from 1993-96) on the program’s all-time leaderboard in the stat. 

Guillermina Causarano

• 2023 Awards: First Team All-Big Ten, First Team All-Region

The two-time team captain had a breakthrough offensive campaign in her third season ‘On the Banks’. Causarano led the team with 12 goals and eight assists for 32 points, finishing in the top-10 on RU’s all-time single-season lists for goals (seventh) and points (eight). 

Paulina Niklaus

• 2023 Awards: Second Team All-Big Ten, Second Team All-Region, Big Ten All-Tournament Team 

In her debut season, Niklaus started 17 games with three goals and four assists, including the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over No. 16 Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals. 

Ava Cickavage

• 2023 Awards: Second Team All-Big Ten, Second Team All-Region 

Joining RU for her second collegiate season after debuting in 2022 for Wake Forest, Cickavage made an instant impact for the program in the midfield, starting all 19 games. 

Sophia Howard

• 2023 Awards: Second Team All-Region 

The two-time team captain from New Zealand excelled in the cage in 2024. The goalkeeper posted a career-best 1.25 goals-against-average and 0.752 save percentage with 82 saves and six shutouts. 

Bridy Molyneaux

The Fair Haven, N.J. native returns for her fifth season ‘On the Banks’. She has scored 18 goals across 45 starts in 75 total games played at forward. 

Rutgers captains for this upcoming season will be Sophia Howard, Bridy Molyneaux, Guillermina Causarano and Paulina Niklaus. 

Rutgers brings in four transfers who have combined for 81 games played at the collegiate level and have scored 18 goals and added eight assists in that time. The Scarlet Knights also welcome a quartet of talented freshman, making for a sizeable nine-member newcomer class overall. 

2024 Newcomers

• Freshman Emily Nicholls
• Freshman Olivia Stazi
• Freshman Sophie Kuiper
• Freshman Caroline DeKenipp
• Freshman Anna Cogdell
• Sophomore Maddie Olshemski (transfer from Indiana)
• Sophomore Madelyn Kidd (transfer from Sacred Heart)
• Senior Ashley Arnold (transfer from Wake Forest)
• Graduate student Kara Heck (transfer from Boston College)
   

Rutgers saw the departure of Iris Langejans, Marique Dieudonne, Carly Snarski, Elise Pettisani, Lauren Kokoskie, Noelle Leaf and Olivia Weir. 

After posting the second most wins in program history last season, the Scarlet Knights enter the upcoming campaign having won 43 of their past 61 games. Since the spring 2021 season, RU is 20-12 in Big Ten Conference regular season conference games and has 29 Big Ten wins over the past six seasons.