No. 13 Rutgers field hockey falls to No. 18 Princeton, suffers 2nd straight loss
Following the 3-2 Friday loss against Maryland, the Rutgers field hockey team returned to Piscataway to face Route 1 rival Princeton. The Scarlet Knights (3-4, 0–1) blew another lead late and fell 3-2 to the Tigers (4-2, 1-0).
It took less than 2 minutes for a goal to be scored on Sunday. Grace Schulze put one in the back of No. 13 Rutgers' net, thanks to an assist from Beth Yeager to put No. 18 Princeton up 1-0 early.
Aside from that early goal, redshirt senior goalkeeper Sophia Howard played lights out in the first half. The Knights had three saves in the first half, and Howard was responsible for two, while redshirt junior back Puck Winter made a defensive save as well.
On the other side of the field was senior midfielder Guillermina Causarano, a name that needs no introduction in this 2024 season. Causarano slapped the equalizer in the back of the net approximately 6 minutes in, coincidently scoring her 6th goal of the young season.
A quiet rest of the first led to an instant goal in the second quarter. Senior forward Kara Heck scored her 4th goal of the season to put Rutgers up 2-1.
The third quarter went scoreless, largely because Howard saved three more shots and Tigers goalie Robyn Thompson saved one.
Both sides attempted ten shots in the fourth quarter. The Knights took eight and missed eight before the opposition even took one. Princeton's first shot came in the waning minutes of the game, and it was Schulze who scored the equalizing goal.
Just when it couldn't have gotten worse for Rutgers, Shulze completed the hat trick just one minute later to put the Tigers ahead and give them the win.
This is now the second game in which the Knights have blown a lead.
Rutgers will now get a four-day break to shake off the pair of weekend losses. The Knights will face Iowa on Friday in its second Big Ten matchup of the season. The game will start at 1 p.m. and broadcast on Big Ten Network.
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