PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 15 Rutgers field hockey faced the defending national champions and current No. 1 ranked Northwestern Wildcats in a home contest on Friday afternoon to kick off R NIL Homecoming Weekend. The Wildcats prevailed in a 5-0 victory over the home squad in front of 678 fans at the Bauer Track and Field Hockey Complex.

With the win, Northwestern improves to 12-1 on the season and remains unbeaten in conference games and atop the league standings at 4-0. The Wildcats have won 56 over their past sixty games across the past three seasons. Rutgers now stands at 8-6 overall and 3-2 in conference play.

Northwestern's leading scorer and All-American Ashley Sessa led the way for NU with a hat trick, now pacing the Wildcats with 11 tallies on the year. Maja Zivojnovic and Grace Shulze also scored for NU.

Rutgers goalkeeper Emily Nicholls had six saves on the day, adding to her conference-leading total with 83 stops on the season. Northwestern outshot RU 17-12, with an 11-4 margin in shots on goal, and had a 6-5 advantage in corners.

The Wildcats scored their first goal late in the first quarter, and their second goal late in the second quarter to take a 2-0 lead into halftime. The visitors added scores in the third quarter plus two in the fourth.

Rutgers returns home for a big game on Sunday, hosting No. 11 Iowa. 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. The Senior Day ceremony will be postgame, with seven seniors honored: Natalie Arnold, Dani Gindville, Puck Winter, Ashley Arnold, Erica Babitts, Paulina Niklaus and Vicky Jure.

The two games this weekend 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.