It is homecoming weekend at Rutgers, and this week started with a bang, as Keli Zinn officially launched the R NIL initiative with activations across Rutgers’ sporting events all weekend. Andrew covered the release at this link, which features everything you need to know about the initiative, as well as what Zinn herself said about the launch. Another important thing to note is that Zinn expects to bring in two R NIL hires, one external and one internal, as soon as next week, and plans to hire four
more full-time staffers to cover a range of responsibilities, including selling opportunities, in-house operations, and digital content creation.
Greg Schiano, Steve Pikiell, and many others have already spoken very highly about the initiative. If you want to see their quotes and the full activation schedule for this weekend, check out the official release from Rutgers Athletics at this link. The schedule is also the featured image for this article.
Women’s golf was back in action at the Route 66 Invitational, honoring Tulsa golf pioneer Dale McNamara from October 13th to 14th. Rutgers finished play on Monday in eighth place, but moved ahead of fellow Big Ten programs Minnesota and Wisconsin to finish in fifth.
The team was led by redshirt senior Grace Lu and sophomore Joline Truong, who finished sixth and seventh, respectively. This was the last team event for the fall season, although Rutgers will send individuals to compete at the Lehigh Invitational in Bedminster, NJ, from October 25th to 26th.
Cross country will resume action at the Princeton Fall Classic, the final tune-up before the Big Ten Championships on Halloween. Last time out at the Paul Short Run, the men’s team finished 21st while the women’s team finished 30th. Micah Lawson was the top male performer in the 8K, with his time of 24:14.8, while Kelseigh O’Neill led the Rutgers women’s team in the 6K with her time of 20:54.4.
Women’s swimming and diving opened their season with two wins over St. Bonaventure and Fordham in their first meet of the year. In addition, the diving team received a pre-season ranking of sixth in the PDCA Top 25, which is a coaches’ poll. For more on the swim and dive team, please refer to the link above.
Women’s soccer had a disappointing road trip last week, falling 2-0 to Illinois last Thursday and 3-0 to Northwestern on Sunday. The team is on a five-game losing streak and has not won since a 2-0 victory over Indiana on September 21st, their lone Big Ten victory.
The schedule does not get any easier this week, with R NIL/Homecoming Weekend officially kicking off tonight at Yurcak Field when the Rutgers women host #25 Ohio State at 7 PM. The Buckeyes are 6-2-6 overall with a conference record of 2-1-5. Women’s soccer concludes the weekend by hosting Michigan, which has an overall record of 5-7-3 and is 2-3-3 in the Big Ten.
Rutgers is almost certainly not going to make the NCAA tournament or even the Big Ten tournament with its disappointing record, the first time both will happen since Mike O’Neill took over the program 11 years ago. The Scarlet Knights have an overall record of just 3-6-4 while being just 1-6-1 in Big Ten play, good for four points in the conference standings, which is second to last and only ahead of Oregon.
Men’s soccer moved up to #13 in the country and took on #8 Maryland in College Park on Tuesday. Despite a very even match that was scoreless through the first half, Rutgers could not break through while the Terrapins netted a couple of goals in a span of five minutes early in the second half. Stephane Nikje and Joseph Picotto did the damage for UMD, which remains atop the Big Ten standings with a conference record of 4-0-2.
Rutgers will have a chance to bounce back against another ranked opponent when #21 Washington visits Yurcak Field on Friday at 7 PM. The Huskies are second in the conference standings, with a record of 4-1-0 in Big Ten play, while the Scarlet Knights sit in fourth, tied with Michigan and UCLA with their 3-2-1 conference record.
Volleyball was also in College Park for its rematch against the Terrapins on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the second time around did not go as well, as Maryland took down Rutgers in four sets. Like several of the previous matches, three of the first four sets were extremely close, each being decided by just two points. Tara Garvey put away the first set 26-24, but the hosts rallied from down 23-20 to take the second set 25-20.
In the third set, Rutgers led 18-12, but Maryland came out of its timeout swinging to cut the lead to 18-17. The two schools jostled for the next points, with the Scarlet Knights going ahead 25-24 before Maryland got the final three points to take the set. The fourth set was more decisive, with Rutgers jumping out to a 3-0 lead, but UMD taking the next five points and not looking back to take the match with a 25-14 fourth set.
Women’s volleyball will return to Jersey Mike’s Arena on Sunday to face #12 Purdue on Letterwinner Day/Homecoming Weekend at 1 p.m. Former Senior Woman’s Administrator Kate Hickey will be honored before the game while Rutgers volleyball alumnae will be recognized between the second and third sets. Rutgers is now 10-9 overall with a conference record of just 1-6, with the one victory coming over the Terrapins at JMA.
Field hockey will begin its biggest stretch of the season when it hosts #1 Northwestern this Friday at 4 PM tomorrow, with the game being broadcast on the Big Ten Network. They will then host #11 Iowa at 12 PM on Sunday, before battling #10 Maryland the following Friday. Friday’s game will open up Alumni Weekend, while Sunday’s game will be Letterwinners Day and Senior Day, as Rutgers celebrates its legends of the past and graduating seniors.
The Scarlet Knights are ranked No. 17 in the RPI this week and No. 15 in the NFHCA Coaches Poll, and are coming off a 4-0 victory at Indiana last Friday. Olivia Fraticelli leads Rutgers with eight goals and 18 points, while goaltender Emily Nicholls leads the conference in saves and is fourth nationally in save percentage. Four other Scarlet Knights have between four and six goals, including standouts Sophie Kuiper and Puck Winter, who also won National Defensive Player of the Week this season.
Women’s basketball secured its first committment in the 2026 class in Canadian wing Chante Murray, while men’s basketball made a big addition of its own by signing 10-year old Trent Powers as its Team IMPACT honoree. Basketball is about half a month away from returning, with the women’s team tipping off against Wagner on Monday, November 3rd while the men’s team will host Rider on Wednesday, November 5th.
Finally, football is ready to return to SHI Stadium on Saturday for their homecoming game against the #8 Oregon Ducks, which will be broadcast on Big Ten Network and kick off at 6:30. Be sure to keep up with the latest coverage at On The Banks, with the “Opponent Film Room” having been posted already, and the game preview and score predictions article set to drop before kickoff. As always, Andrew and I will have our live coverage from SHI Stadium on our X account and on the feed, and of course, feel free to post in the game thread.
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