PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 18 Rutgers field hockey saw two student-athletes earn Big Ten weekly awards on Monday after playing overtime contests against a pair of ranked teams, with a win at No. 16 UConn. Puck Winter was named the Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week, while Emily Nicholls was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
 
Winter excelled at back to boost the defense during RU's two contests. In the road win at the No. 16 Huskies, Winter also scored the game-winning goal, capitalizing off a penalty corner in overtime to push the Scarlet Knights to a comeback victory. On Sunday, as RU's defense held Princeton scoreless across the first 65 minutes, Winter had a key defensive save to keep the game scoreless. The graduate student from The Netherlands now has 26 defensive saves in her career. In addition to being RU's career leader in the stat, she is second all-time in Big Ten history and ninth in NCAA history. Winter earned the third Big Ten weekly award of her career.
 
Nicholls collected her second Big Ten weekly accolade (and first Freshman of the Week honor) in the first three weeks of the season after a brilliant weekend in the cage against two ranked foes. First, the goalkeeper made six saves at No. 16 UConn in the road victory. Then on Sunday against No. 11 Princeton, she had an outstanding 13 saves. The Haddon Heights, N.J. native was responsible for sending the game into overtime scoreless with a stellar performance, which included a diving save of a penalty stroke attempt near the end of regulation. The 13 stops marked the most saves in a game for any Rutgers goalkeeper in 10 years, since Shevaun Hayes had 13 saves against Michigan State in 2015. Nicholls leads the Big Ten in saves (38, 13 more than second place) and is second in the Big Ten in save percentage (86.4%).

The 13 stops marked the most saves in a game for any Rutgers goalkeeper in 10 years, since Shevaun Hayes had 13 saves against Michigan State in 2015. Nicholls leads the Big Ten in saves (38, 13 more than second place) and is second in the Big Ten in save percentage (86.4%).
 
Rutgers win on Friday at the Huskies was the team's first ranked win of the season and 53^rd since 2012, 50 of which have come since 2017. The Scarlet Knights have six lifetime wins against UConn and are 4-1 in their past five games, all of which have extended past regulation.
 
The Scarlet Knights remain at home this week and have two home games this weekend. RU hosts New Hampshire on Friday (noon) in the Blackout Game, then welcomes Monmouth on Sunday (noon) for Youth Field Hockey Day. The Scarlet Knights are home for the next four games, with Ohio State and Columbia visiting the following weekend.