Rutgers field hockey set for two games against ranked opponents
One week after securing two ranked wins, the No. 10 Rutgers field hockey team gets ready to face its seventh and eighth consecutive ranked opponents.
The opening portion of the Scarlet Knights’ (6-1, 0-0) schedule featured all but one unranked matchup. Rutgers outscored opponents 19-9 during the opening part of the season. The Knights kept the offensive pressure during the games by firing 59 shots on goal while only allowing 30.
Rutgers is a perfect 3-3 on penalty strokes with senior midfielder Milena Redlingshoefer converting all of them.
The weekend opens with the Knights taking on their highest-ranked opponent thus far. For both No. 3 Northwestern and Rutgers, Friday’s game will be their first Big Ten matchup of the season. Coming off a 5-1 win against California, the Wildcats (8-1, 0-0) are outscoring opponents 41-10.
Northwestern played several ranked matches this year, opening their season against No. 6 UConn. Both the Wildcats and the Knights took down the Huskies (4-4, 1-0). Another common opponent was Duke, and both squads beat the Blue Devils (3-4, 0-1) by a score of 3-0.
For Northwestern, Bente Baekers has 8 goals, six assists and started in all seven games she has played in. Maren Seidel has 7 of her own goals while Clara Roth is third for the Wildcats with 6 goals. The trio falls into the same order when it comes to the number of shots taken.
With seven starts, Annabel Skubisz is leading the goalkeeper group in time played. In her six wins and one loss, Skubisz made 10 saves and let in 6 goals. Skubisz gets help from Jamie Marold, and while most of her appearances are in relief, Marold has two starts of her own. Marold has surrendered 4 goals but brought in seven saves on her way to victories in six appearances.
Rutgers will have two days off after the Friday matchup before going road to take on No. 18 Princeton.
The Tigers' (2-4, 0-0) most recent victory was over Boston University by a score of 7-0. Princeton is lead by Beth Yeager who has collected 6 goals and four assists and fired 27 shots and Sammy Popper, who has 16 shots and 2 goals.
Goals are well distributed on the Knights, as 12 players have contributed goals with five players more than 2. On top of the scoring hierarchy is freshman midfielder Lucy Bannatyne with 4 goals. Senior goalkeeper Gianna Glatz has gotten the majority of reps in net, posting 14 saves and giving up 6 goals.
The game against Northwestern will be streamed on Big Ten Network+, and the game against the Tigers will be streamed on ESPN+.
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