PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 15 Rutgers field hockey starts a three-game home stretch this weekend as the Scarlet Knights prepare to play three straight teams ranked among the top 11 of the nation. This week, Rutgers hosts No. 1 Northwestern on Friday and No. 11 Iowa on Sunday (with No. 10 Maryland waiting next weekend).

Friday's game against the top-ranked Wildcats will be at 4 p.m. and be nationally televised by Big Ten Network. Jay Wilson and Kara Lentz are on the call.

Sunday's game against Iowa will be at noon. The game will be on B1G+ with Dom Savino and Marybeth Freeman on the call.

The two games are part of Rutgers' Homecoming Weekend. Rutgers Athletics will display its commitment to empowering student-athletes to maximize their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities during R NIL Homecoming Weekend. Rutgers Athletics will elevate the R NIL brand through activations at all events over Homecoming Weekend.

Friday's game opens up Alumni Weekend. The Scarlet Knights are welcoming back letterwinners into town for a series of events, which includes a Friday Happy Hour, football game tailgate on Saturday as RU hosts Oregon, and full festivities on Sunday.

Sunday's game will be Letterwinners Day and Senior Day. With over 30 letterwinners projected to be in attendance, the team will host pregame festivities, including a tailgate and gameday reception, with letterwinners joining the team for a pregame walkout high five tunnel, anthem buddies and halftime recognition.

About Rutgers

Rutgers enters the weekend with an 8-5 overall record and a 3-1 mark in league play. RU has won four of its last five games, with Big Ten wins over Ohio State (2-1 in overtime), Michigan State (5-0) and Indiana (4-0) along with beating Columbia (8-0) and a 2-1 loss to No. 12 Michigan where RU led late in the third quarter.  Over those five games, RU has outscored opponents 20-3. Rutgers has four shutouts on the season, and three of them have come in that span.

Olivia Fraticelli leads the team with eight goals and 18 points. The junior had never scored a goal prior to this year in her first 22 games. She has three multi-goal games, scoring twice against New Hampshire, Columbia and Indiana. RU also has four players with between four and six goals (Sophie Kuiper – 6, Olivia de Zwaan – 5, Puck Winter – 5, Martha Goodridge – 4).

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Emily Nicholls has a 83.7% save percentage and a 1.19 goals-against-average, having allowed just 15 goals in 13 starts. Her 77 saves leads the Big Ten and she is fourth nationally in save percentage.

The Scarlet Knights are ranked No. 17 in the RPI this week and No. 15 in the NFHCA Coaches Poll. The Scarlet Knights have a top-15 strength of schedule and have played five top-20 RPI teams.

Senior Day

Rutgers will celebrate Senior Day this Sunday, with a postgame ceremony. RU will have seven seniors honored: Natalie Arnold, Dani Gindville, Puck Winter, Ashley Arnold, Erica Babitts, Paulina Niklaus and Vicky Jure. The pair of team captains, Niklaus and Jure, will be recognized for the second time, choosing to return for an additional season of eligibility following participating in Senior Day ceremonies last year.
 

About Northwestern

Northwestern enters the game at 11-1 after taking their first loss of the season at home against No. 8 Princeton. The Wildcats are the defending national champions, posting a 23-1 record last year. NU, who also won the 2021 national championship, is 93-14 over the past five seasons and 55-4 over the past three years. Over the past five seasons, Northwestern only has won loss to a team outside the top-10 in the national rankings – No. 23 Rutgers in 2022.

Ashley Sessa has a team-high 29 points on eight goals and a team-best 13 assists. Northwestern is led in goals with 11 from Ilse Tromp. Both players were All-Americans last season. Princeton transfer Grace Schulze, who had a hat trick against Rutgers last year, is third on the team with seven goals.

Maddie Zimmer has three goals and six assists this season. The 2024 NFHCA Player of the Year is a three-time First Team All-American.

Rutgers is 5-12 a—time against Northwestern, with all 17 meetings coming since RU joined the Big Ten in 2014. Four Big Ten Tournament meetings have supplemented the regular season rankings. After the Wildcats won the first five meetings, Rutgers responded with five wins over the next eight meetings between 2018 and 2022. Northwestern has won the last four meetings.

In Northwestern's last trip to Piscataway in 2023, RU entered at 15-0 overall and in search of a regular season Big Ten title with a win. However, the Wildcats prevailed in a penalty shootout, winning 2-1. Last season, Northwestern won in Evanston, then ended RU's season in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals with a 2-0 victories despite Puck Winter having four defensive saves in the game. All five of RU's wins have come against Northwestern teams ranked in the top-15, with four of them coming with NU ranked in the top four (No. 3 twice, No. 4 twice).

About Iowa

Iowa enters the weekend at 8-3 overall and 1-2 in league play, with a 3-0 away record. The Hawkeyes have ranked wins over No. 20 Wake Forest and No. 20 Miami, with their losses coming to No. 2 UNC, No. 1 Northwestern and No. 12 Maryland. 

Iowa scored 41 goals this season, averaging 3.73 per game. Dionne van Aalsum, a former First Team All-American, has 19 goals through 11 games and has 56 career goals in 48 career games. Frederique van Cleef has added eight scores. In goal, Mia Magnotta has a 1.86 goals-against-average and .747 save percentage.

Rutgers is 4-11-1 all-time against Iowa. Rutgers won last season's contest, 3-2 in a shootout, and three straight games from 2016 to 2018.

With a Win over Northwestern

• Highest ranked win in program history
• 17^th top-10 win since April of 2021
• 42 ranked wins since 2018
• 19 ranked wins in the past five seasons

RU has never defeated the nation's No. 1 ranked team. Their highest ranked win in history came over No. 2 Michigan in 2021, which gave the team their first ever Big Ten Tournament title.

It would be the first Rutgers Athletics team to defeat the No. 1 team in the nation since men's basketball (Jan. 2, 2023: Rutgers 65, #1 Purdue 64). It would be the 10th all-time win for Rutgres Athletics over a No. 1 ranked team (Men's Basketball twice, Women's Basketball six times, Women's Soccer once). 

Milestone Tracker: Puck Winter, Defensive Saves

Puck Winter is on the top-10 all time in NCAA history in defensive saves. The reigning two-time NCAA stat leader in the statistic, Winter is Rutgers all-time leader, second in the Big Ten and 6^th in NCAA history, currently holding the NCAA lead this season.

1. Michelle Cargen, Holy Cross (1987-90): 58
2. Susan Crafts, Virginia (1982-85): 38
3. Amy Gielle, William & Mary (1993-96): 34
4. Beth Senic, Ohio State (1985-88): 31
5. Angie King, Quinnipiac (2013-16): 31
6. Chantal Lacroix, Holy Cross (1990-93): 30

T-6. Puck Winter, Rutgers: 30

In-Season Accolades

Puck Winter: Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 29) | NFHCA National Defensive Player of the Week

• Two defensive saves vs. Ohio State, two goals vs. Columbia

Martha Goodridge: Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Sept. 29)

• Game-winning goal in OT vs. Ohio State, goal and assist vs. Columbia

Puck Winter: Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 15)

• Had defensive save vs. Princeton, game-winning goal against No. 16 UConn

Emily Nicholls: Big Ten Freshman of the Week (Sept. 15)

• Six saves at No. 16 UConn, 11 saves against No. 11 Princeton

Emily Nicholls: Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 2)

• Allowed zero goals, made 11 saves in wins over Wagner and Vermont

Preseason Accolades

Rutgers field hockey had three players named to the preseason Big Ten Players to Watch List. Anna Cogdell, Paulina Niklaus and Puck Winter were all recognized by the league office. The trio all earned all-conference recognition to close out last season as well.

Additionally, six student athletes from Rutgers were recognized by USA Field Hockey in the selections for the 2025 Senior Nexus Championship. Olivia Fraticelli, Dani Gindville, Maddie Kidd and Emily Nicholls were selected to compete, while Natalie Arnold and Maddie Olshemski were named as alternates.

Nicholls and Fraticelli were selected as well by USA Field Hockey for the U-21 Junior Women's National Team Selection Camp.

Recent History

Rutgers finished last season at 8-9 overall. The team was No. 14 in the RPI, the highest RPI for a team that did not make the NCAA Tournament. RU played eight of its 17 games against NCAA Tournament teams and 10 games against teams in the top-20 of the RPI, including six games against top-10 RPI teams.  Seven of the nine losses were to NCAA Tournament teams.

Entering this season, RU has won 55 of their past 86 games over the past four seasons. During the year, RU defeated four ranked teams: No. 3 Ohio State, No. 7 Iowa, No. 7 Ohio State, and No. 17 Penn State. The team was ranked in the top-20 for numerous weeks in both the NFHCA Coaches Poll and the RPI rankings.

Since 2018, field hockey is 88-51, a winning percentage of 63%, with over half of those wins coming against ranked teams. Rutgers has 18 ranked wins in the past six seasons and 43 ranked wins since 2018, which includes 16 top-10 wins since 2021. In 2018, RU went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 32 years, then made two additional NCAA Tournaments over the next five years. The team set the program record for wins in 2021 (19) and in 2023 had the second most wins in program history (16). RU was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2021 after winning the Big Ten Tournament on home turf.  

International Knights

Rutgers field hockey alumn Katie Larmour was recently honored with her first ever selection to the senior national team for her country. Larmour earned six caps with Team Ireland this summer, playing against Team USA in an exhibition match in Charlotte, then competing for Team Ireland in early August in the EuroHockey Championships.

Alumn Iris Langejans also recently begun a professional career back home in the Netherlands, signing with HDM Dames 1 to play at the highest level of Dutch professional field hockey.

Civico Emphasizes Team Culture

Since her first day as head coach, the foundation of Rutgers Field Hockey has been the culture, about intentionally creating a family atmosphere that allows student-athletes to thrive as students, as athletes and as people. By attracting and recruiting the very best players and staff over her fourteen years as head coach, and giving them an environment in which they flourish, Meredith Civico has built the program into one of the top in the Big Ten – and the nation.  The core tenant for the program has been the establishment of a strong, positive culture where progression is expected, differences are celebrated and family is everything. The feeling of togetherness in the locker room and when competing is what makes this team special and unique.

"Culture is something you have to work at every single day; it doesn't just happen," Civico explained. "We have this acronym: RUTGERS that stands for our core values: Relentless, United, Tenacious, Gritty, Excellence, Respect, Strength. These aren't just words on a wall – they're how we live. We're not just coaching a sport; we're coaching people. Sports are played by people, and people are the most important."