No. 17 Field Hockey Drops Season Opener at No. 18 Monmouth

Friday, August 28

West Long Branch, N.J.

4:00 PM

Rutgers

(0-1, 0-0)

Monmouth

(1-0, 0-0)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Rutgers	0	1	0	0	1
Monmouth University	1	0	1	3	5

Photo by: Dakota Moyer

No. 17 Field Hockey Drops Season Opener at No. 18 Monmouth

Aug 28 | Field Hockey

Box Score Video: Fraticelli Goal

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – No. 17 Rutgers field hockey battled a ranked foe on the road to open the 2026 season, falling 5-1 to No. 18 Monmouth in the season opener. RU had a goal from Olivia Fraticelli, but fell on the road to the ranked foe.

No. 18 Monmouth is one of nine teams on RU's schedule to be ranked in the preseason of NFHCA Coaches Poll. Five of the first six opponents to start the year for RU are in the top-20, with four upcoming foes ranked in the top-11 currently. RU evened the score heading into halftime, but MU added two empty net goals at the end to make the final scoreline deceptive. Emily Nicholls made five saves, but RU was outshot 20-8 on the day.

Monmouth had the pressure early on the RU goal. The Hawks put an early goal on the scoreboard less than two minutes into the game on the first penalty corner opportunity. The goal was held up on video review and it gave the home team the early advantage

Monmouth had the advantage in the first quarter, with the first six shots of the contest. However to start the second quarter, RU had a quick strike, turning defense into offense and a breakaway goal within the opening seconds of the quarter. MU took initial possession to open the second quarter, but Sophie Kuiper intercepted a pass to give RU possession. She sent a great pass forwards, setting up Olivia Fraticelli on a breakaway. RU's leading returning goal scorer beat the goalkeeper from there to tie the game at 1-1 in the 16^th minute of action. Despite being outshot by the home team in the opening half, RU gathered momentum in that second quarter from the goal and went into the intermission with the score even.

In the third quarter, RU turned up the offensive pressure, taking a player advantage with a Monmouth card and followed by a series of penalty corners. Monmouth countered the pressure, and earned their own corner, capitalizing on it for a 2-1 lead. Hannah Tromble put in a shot from the top that squeezed through and put MU back in front late in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, newcomer Frederique Vernooij had a great shot at the equalizer, but her shot trickled wide. Monmouth added an insurance tally with five minutes remaining as RU was a player down, scoring off a rebound to put the game away. Rutgers removed its goalkeeper late for an extra field player, and MU scored into the empty net twice to add to the margin.

Notes

Rutgers started five newcomers with two true freshmen Lauren Iaccio and Eden Doucelin as well as Emma Uprichard and Laura Loycke starting their first collegiate game, joined as new RU starters by Princeton transfer Talia Schenck.
Olivia Fraticelli had the first goal of the season for the Scarlet Knights after leading the team with 11 goals last season.
Monmouth earned back-to-back wins over RU for the first time since 2010 and 2011.

Up Next

Rutgers has one more game this weekend. The Scarlet Knights will play on the road again on Sunday, travelling to Wagner for a 1 pm contest. Then, RU is back home to face No. 5 Virginia and No. 9 Syracuse next weekend as it hosts the Big Ten / ACC Challenge.