Rutgers Field Hockey Faces Huge Big Ten Challenge

OFFICIAL RUTGERS PRESS RELEASE

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - No. 19 Rutgers field hockey is back home this weekend for a pair of Big Ten Conference games. The Scarlet Knights will host 23rd ranked Ohio State on Friday at 3 pm, then welcome in 8th ranked Michigan on Sunday at noon.

Rutgers enters the weekend having won five of its past six games. After starting the season with just five goals in the initial five games, RU scored eight times last weekend in a 2-0 weekend that includes victories over Michigan State and Delaware.

RU also earned two different award recognition's this week. Puck Winter earned the team’s first Big Ten weekly award of the season, as she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Additionally, Winter, along with Lucy Bannatyne, Guillermina Causarano and Iris Langejans were named to the NFHCA Collegiate Watch List, which identifies top talent for potential national season ending accolades.

RU holds a 7-6 lead in the all-time series against Ohio State and enters this contest with a four-game winning streak against the Buckeyes. Last season, RU claimed a 3-1 victory in Columbus behind Lucy Bannatyne’s first career two-goal game. RU also claimed two wins over OSU in “B1G at the Beach” during the Covid-19 delayed spring 2021 season. As a result of that, this will be Ohio State’s first trip to Piscataway since 2018.

Michigan makes its return to Piscataway for the first time since the Scarlet Knights toppled them at Bauer Field in the championship game of the 2021 Big Ten Tournament. That historic moment for RU saw a 1-0 victory over the No. 2 Wolverines that was RU’s highest ranked win in program history. Overall, it’s an 11-2 series advantage for UM, with the other RU win coming in the Wolverines’ last regular season contest against RU in Piscataway, a 3-0 win for the Scarlet Knights on October 25, 2019 against then-No. 7 ranked UM. After Michigan won the first eight meetings in this series, the last five meetings are now just a 3-2 split for UM.