PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 18 Rutgers field hockey has one more regular season contest upcoming on the schedule. The Scarlet Knights travel to Penn State, where they will face the Nittany Lions this Friday at 5 p.m. on B1G+.
About Rutgers
Rutgers enters the contest with an 8-8 overall record. Rutgers has lost four of the past five games.
Olivia Fraticelli enters the game with a team-high nine goals, which is the second most goals by a RU player across the past seven seasons (dating back to 2019), only behind
Guillermina Causarano's 12 goals in 2023.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper
Emily Nicholls has a 79.0% save percentage and a 1.59 goals-against-average. She ranks 12
th nationally and third in the Big Ten in save percentage, as well as second in the league with 5.88 saves per game. Her 94 saves leads the Big Ten. She is the first Rutgers goalkeeper to record 90 saves in a season since Shevaun Hayes made 103 stops in 2014-15, the first year for the Scarlet Knights as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
The Scarlet Knights are No. 18 in the RPI and the NFHCA Coaches Poll. RU has played the sixth toughest schedule in the nation, and the hardest in the Big Ten. Rutgers has faced No. 3, 4,5,9,11,13,17,19 and 21 in this week's RPI. RU is 1-8 in those games, with the win coming over No. 13 UConn. The Scarlet Knights also boast a win over Indiana, who is ranked 17
th in this week's coaches poll.
RU's eight losses all come to top-20 teams in this week's NFHCA Poll, with five of the eight losses coming by one goal, and three losses coming in overtime.
Big Ten Tournament Scenarios
The Big Ten Tournament bracket will be finalized at the conclusion of Friday's action. RU is looking to officially lock up a berth to the postseason tournament, which will be held starting on November 6 in Bloomington, Indiana, hosted by Indiana University.
In Big Ten field hockey, seven of the nine teams participate in the Big Ten Tournament. A Rutgers win would lock up a bid, as Penn State and Michigan State would be left out. If Rutgers loses to Penn State, tiebreakers would determine who receives the final spot for the conference tournament.
Rutgers, Michigan and Ohio State all enter the weekend at 3-4, with Penn State at 2-5. In addition to the Rutgers-Penn State game, Michigan plays Indiana and Ohio State plays Iowa. That presents the possibility of a four-way tie between those teams, with only three of those four schools able to earn a Big Ten Tournament bid.
If Michigan and Ohio State both earn their conference win, a 3-5 Rutgers team would lose the tiebreaker with a 3-5 Penn State team for the final spot. Rutgers needs at least an Ohio State loss to enter a three-way tiebreaker with the Buckeyes to keep alive the possibility of making the Big Ten Tournament after a loss to the Nittany Lions.
About Penn State
Penn State enters the game with a 7-9 overall record and a 2-5 mark in conference play. The Nittany Lions boast a win over No. 11 Iowa (1-0 in 2OT) and Michigan State in league play. After opening the year with a 5-3 mark after the MSU win, PSU is 2-6 in their last eight games, with the non-Iowa in that span win coming over Lock Haven (1-16 on the year).
The Nittany Lions rank in the bottom three in the Big Ten in scoring average (seventh, 1.89) and goals-against-average (eighth, 2.12). Outside of eight goals against Lock Haven, Penn State has averaged 1.6 goals per game. And have scored just four combined goals in the past five Big Ten games.
Natalie Freeman leads the team with 17 points (six goals, five assists). Josephine Purdy and Ella Jennes also share the team lead with six goals. Goalkeeper Aby Deverka has a .654 save percentage with 4.25 saves per game. Anouk Knuvers and Sophia Mannino were named Big Ten Preseason Players to Watch, with Kneuvers and Katelyn Strawser on the NFHCA Preseason Watch List.
Penn State is led by head coach Lisa Bervinchak-Love, who boasts an 18-18 record in her third season at the helm. She is in her 32
nd year on the staff, taking over for the recently retired Char Morett-Curtiss, for whom she was an assistant coach since 1994. All-time, the program boasts 35 NCAA Tournament appearances, most recently in 2022, with eight Final Four berths.
Penn State leads the all-time series 20-10-3, with an 8-3-2 advantage in games played in State College. However, the Scarlet Knights have won the last two games and six of the past seven games dating back to 2021. RU has not lost at Penn State since 2017.
Last season, RU shut out PSU with a 1-0 win on Senior Day with
Puck Winter scoring the game's only goal. In 2023, it was also a 1-0 win for RU against Penn State, with that game on the road going into double-overtime before
Guillermina Causarano broke through with the tally.
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.
- Michelle Cargen, Holy Cross (1987-90): 58
- Susan Crafts, Virginia (1982-85): 38
- Amy Gielle, William & Mary (1993-96): 34
- Beth Senic, Ohio State (1985-88): 31
- Angie King, Quinnipiac (2013-16): 31
- 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."
