PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 15 Rutgers field hockey hosted a large crowd at the Bauer Track and Field Hockey Complex on Sunday afternoon, with 918 fans including a large group of alumni packing the place for Letterwinners Day and Senior Day. The Scarlet Knights had a strong performance, but faltered late, with Iowa taking a 4-3 win in overtime.
The Scarlet Knights welcomed back over 30 letterwinners for festivities across the entire R NIL Homecoming Weekend. The team welcomed the alumns on Sunday with pregame tailgates, high-five tunnels, anthem walk-outs and halftime recognition.
With the energy from the alumns pregame boosting the squad, RU jumped out to a strong start. Just 1:18 into the contest,
Sophie Kuiper struck for an early RU goal.
Ashley Arnold sent the ball to Kuiper, who turned, found space, and fired a shot into the back of the net.
Later in the quarter, RU capitalized on a penalty corner. The Scarlet Knights inserted the ball to the top of the circle for
Paulina Niklaus, who slotted a shot home for a 2-0 lead just 12 minutes into the contest.
Iowa slowly climbed back into the game with a pair of goals from Dionne van Aalsum, a former First Team All-American with 56 career goals in 48 games entering the weekend. The junior scored on either end of halftime. First, Fredeique van Cleef made a drive to the next, reaching the backline and sending a pass in front for van Aalsum, who cut the deficit to one at halftime. Then, it was a corner midway through the net where she had the equalizer, sending home a hard shot from the top of the circle.
In the fourth quarter, RU got a huge goal from their leading goal scorer on the season,
Olivia Fraticelli. Off a penalty corner, Niklaus sent it towards the far post, and Fraticelli redirected it home for a 3-2 RU advantage with 10 minutes to play.
Five minutes later, Iowa pulled its goalkeeper for an extra field player. The Hawkeyes took quick advantage of the extra player, with Gia Whalen poking one in from the front of the net for the equalizer, which sent the game towards overtime.
The Scarlet Knights headed to an extra session for its fourth overtime game this year. Four minutes into overtime, Iowa was awarded a corner, and took advantage of that for the game winner, with Milly Short scoring it for the 4-3 victory.
With the win, Iowa improved to 9-4 overall and 2-3 in Big Ten play. RU stands at 8-7 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights have two contests remaining, hosting No. 10 Maryland on Friday, then heading to Penn State the following weekend.
In the game, Iowa had a 16-10 advantage in shots and 8-5 in corners.
Emily Nicholls made seven saves for RU.
Postgame, Rutgers conducted its Senior Day ceremonies. The Scarlet Knights honored seven seniors:
Natalie Arnold,
Dani Gindville,
Puck Winter,
Ashley Arnold,
Erica Babitts,
Vicky Jure and
Paulina Niklaus.
Gallery: (10-19-2025) Field Hockey Senior Day
Gallery: (10-19-2025) Field Hockey Versus No. 11 Iowa
