PISCATAWAY, N.J.- No. 17 Rutgers field hockey returns to Bauer this weekend for a pair of home non-conference games. The Scarlet Knights host New Hampshire on Friday and then welcome No. 18 Monmouth on Sunday in a pair of noon starts.
 
Game Coverage
 
Friday versus New Hampshire (12 pm): Live Stream | Live Stats

• Blackout Game
• B1G+ with Dom Savino and former Rutgers captain Sophia Howard on the call
   

Sunday versus Monmouth (12 pm): Live Stream | Live Stats

• Youth Field Hockey Day
• B1G+ with Ralph Bednarczyk and former Rutgers captain Kerrie Burns on the call

 
Rutgers Notes
 
Rutgers is 3-3 through six games, holding foes to just seven goals in the first six games. The Scarlet Knights just completed the first ever stretch of four straight ranked non-conference opponents, falling to No. 11 Syracuse (2-0), No. 3 Virginia (1-0) and No. 11 Princeton.
 
The Scarlet Knights earned a comeback victory last Friday at No. 16 UConn. After an early goal by Sophie Kuiper, RU ultimately trailed 2-1 with six minutes to play in regulation. The Scarlet Knights rallied late, with Olivia de Zwaan evening the game with just over five minutes to play, and then Puck Winter winning the game in overtime.
 
Puck Winter was named the Big Ten's Co-Defensive Player of the Week last week. She had a defensive save against Princeton to keep the game scoreless into overtime in addition to the game-winning goal in a road win at No. 16 UConn.
 
Emily Nicholls was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, her second weekly award of the season after earlier being named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after allowing zero goals to Wagner and Vermont. Nicholls made 13 saves against Princeton, the most of any RU goalkeeper since Shevaun Hayes in 2015. Nicholls' save percentage of 86.4% is fourth in the country. Her 39 saves are the most in the Big Ten, 13 more than any other goalkeeper. Her total is 10^th nationally, and most of any goalkeeper for a ranked team. Her goals-against-average is 1.02, 11^th nationally.
 
About New Hampshire
New Hampshire enters the game with a 2-3 overall record. The Wildcats took losses to No. 11 UConn, No. 9 St. Joe's and Miami of Ohio to start, then defeated Northeastern and Providence in back-to-back road games. UNH is 13^th in the nation in assists (3.0) and 14^th in penalty corners (7.6).
 
Picked to win the America East in the Preseason, the Wildcats are led by NFHCA Hall of Fame head coach Robin Balducci in her 35^th season. UNH was sixth in the nation in goals per game last year, led by Tasmin Cookman, a three-time All-American and two-time lead Offensive Player of the Year with 37 career goals, despite being held scoreless in the first five games of this campaign. Kathelijine Knuttel (four goals, three assists) has led their offensive efforts this year.
 
Abby Johnson has a 2.90 goals-against average and 68.9% save percentage in goal. Marlijn Swaan is the reigning America East Rookie of the Week after three goals last weekend.
 
Rutgers is 3-1 lifetime against New Hampshire, but the teams have not played since 2011. RU won the first three meetings (1982, the 1997 ECAC Tournament, and 2008). New Hampshire won an overtime game in the last meeting, at New Hampshire in 2011.
 
About Monmouth
Monmouth enters the week with a 5-1 start, defeating Cal, LIU, Temple, Rider and Lehigh to start the year before a loss at Yale. The Hawks, who have four games of five or more goals this year, lead the nation in scoring average (5.8) and scoring margin (4.0) along with being second in goals per game (4.83), assists (4.17) and points (13.83).
 
Lauren Relik is third in the nation in assists per game (1.6) and ninth in points (2.8). Luisa Schluter is fifth in assists (1.20). Anna Moors is the reigning CAA Defensive Player of the Week, and also is ninth in the nation with 1.2 goals per game. Claire Campen and Moors each have seven goals while Keely Bowers has five. In goal, Charlie Bowman has a 1.92 goals against average and 67.6% save percentage.
 
Rutgers leads the all-time series against Monmouth, 9-4, and have won the past six meetings. Last season, RU went on the road to Monmouth and Paulina Niklaus had the game-winning goal in double overtime. The last meeting at Bauer was in 2023, with RU winning 4-2.
 
With a Win…
 
Versus New Hampshire

• 4-1 All-Time
• First win over UNH since 2008

 
Versus Monmouth

• 10-4 All-Time
• Seven straight wins

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 9^th in NCAA history with 26
career defensive saves. She is also second in Big Ten history
 
With six more defensive saves, Winter become the outright Big Ten leader in career defensive saves and would have the second most defensive save of any D-I NCAA player since 1996.  
 
NCAA Defensive Stats All-Time Leaderboard

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
7. Wendy Barker, Holy Cross (1985-88): 29
8. Monica McCorry, Bucknell (1998-01): 29
9. Puck Winter, Rutgers: 26

 
Ranking Notes
 
Rutgers entered the season ranked at No. 16 in the NFHCA Preseason Coaches Poll, and came in at No. 18 in the Week Two Poll, then moved up to No. 17 in week three. Since the Scarlet Knights first earned a ranking under Meredith Civico in 2017, the Scarlet Knights have earned a ranking at one point each season, including every preseason poll since 2018.
 
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."
 
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.
 
Cogdell returns for her sophomore campaign after being recognized on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team in her debut campaign. The native of Badingham, England started all 17 games at midfield, had two goals and an assist, and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week after the team's win over No. 7 Iowa. She was also named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad.
 
Niklaus returns to the squad after an All-American campaign last year. The German was a Third Team All-American, First Team All-Big Ten, First Team All-Region and All-Big Ten Tournament team selection last season. It was her second straight season as an all-conference and all-region selection, and she has scored 10 goals and seven assists in 34 career starts.
 
Winter returns for her fourth season as a Scarlet Knight as the program's all-time leader in defensive saves, posting 25 in her career after leading the NCAA in 2023 (with 12) and 2024 (with nine) and stands at ninth all-time in NCAA history in the stat. Winter is a two-time All-Big Ten and three-time All-Region player, and the back was the 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Across 55 career starts she also has scored 12 goals.
 
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.
 
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.

RU has won 51 of their past 78 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 84-47, a winning percentage of 64%, with over half of those wins coming against ranked teams. Rutgers has 17 ranked wins in the past five seasons and 42 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.