Crunch Time Looming for No. 15 Rutgers Field Hockey

SB Nation

For Rutgers field hockey, the bad news is that they face No. 1 Northwestern on Friday, No. 11 Iowa for Senior Day Sunday, and No. 10 Maryland on October 24th. The good news is that all three matches are

at home in Piscataway. As fans know, Head Coach Meredith Civico’s squad is no stranger to ranked opponents.

This season, RU has already faced six ranked opponents, going 1-5 in those matches, including a late one-goal loss to currently ranked No. 2 Virginia and an overtime loss against No. 6 Princeton. With a current RPI ranking of 16, the Scarlet Knights are in play for an NCAA tournament bid and have three consecutive matches at home against top-tier opponents to strengthen their resume. That all starts this Friday, when the No. 1 Northwestern Wildcats visit town, followed by No. 11 Iowa at home on Sunday.

Rutgers enters the weekend with an 8-5 overall record, 3-1 in Big Ten play, and has won four of its last five games, outscoring opponents 20-3, with wins over Ohio State (2-1 OT), Michigan State (5-0) and Indiana (4-0) along with beating Columbia (8-0) and a 2-1 loss to No. 12 Michigan.

Junior Oliva Fraticelli leads the team with eight goals and 18 points, after not scoring a point in her first two seasons. Star redshirt freshman goalkeeper Emily Nicholls has an 83.7% save percentage and has allowed just 15 goals in 13 starts. Her 77 saves lead the Big Ten, and she is fourth nationally in save percentage. Needless to say, if Rutgers is to pull off the upset against the top-ranked Wildcats, Nicholls and the stout Rutgers defense, led by Puck Winter, will need to find a way. In Rutgers’ last match this past Friday, they cruised past Indiana on the road for a 4-0 victory.

Northwestern enters the game at 11-1 after taking its first loss of the season at home against No. 6 Princeton. The defending national champions are 55-4 over the past three years, so the task ahead for Rutgers is daunting. Ashley Sessa leads the Wildcats with a team-high 29 points on eight goals and a team-best 13 assists.

Meanwhile, Northwestern suffered its first loss of the season on Monday, falling to Princeton, 3-2. Northwestern has only allowed six goals all season, so Rutgers will need to make the most of their limited scoring opportunities and draw penalty corners to set up scoring chances.

On attack, the Wildcats have the nation’s 11th-best offense at 3.3 goals per game and are currently third in the nation in drawing penalty corners, averaging just over nine attempts per match.