Rutgers Field Hockey Unbeaten Streak Ends in Penalty Shootout
The unbeaten streak is over, but the mission is still in front of them.
Rutgers Field Hockey (15-1) watched their unbeaten regular season come to an end Sunday afternoon in a 2-1 penalty shootout loss to Northwestern (15-1). The Wildcats as a result captured the Big Ten Conference regular season championship.
With one game left in the regular season next week against Iowa, the focus will quickly shift to the Big Ten Tournament.
The loss didn’t come with out controversy as Rutgers connected on its final shot of the penalty shootout to take a 4-3 penalty shot lead, however officials waved the goal off after review, forcing another shootout period. Rutgers missed on its first attempt, and Northwestern nailed it when Peyton Halsey got the ball past Sophia Howard.
Earlier, Rutgers had grabbed the lead on Paulina Niklaus’s netter from the corner, and wound up leading Northwestern for nearly 40 minutes of regulation.
However at the 48 minute mark Ilse Tromp tied the game at one on a corner shot.
“I liked the way we competed and fought to the very end,” head coach Meredith Civico said. “The team is incredibly motivated to continue with what is still to come for us this season.”
Rutgers can still claim a share of the Big Ten regular season title should Northwestern lose to Maryland, and the Scarlet Knights beat Iowa on October 27.
Then it’s tournament time.
