BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No. 17 Rutgers field hockey had a tremendous battle against No. 15 Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals, but the Wolverines came away with a 2-1 victory in double overtime.

Rutgers falls to 9-9 overall on the season. Michigan, the defending Big Ten Tournament champions, improve to 10-6 on the year. The Wolverines advance to face No. 1 seed Northwestern in the Big Ten Semifinals. All nine of RU's losses have come to teams ranked in the top-15 of this week's NFHCA Coaches Poll.

Olivia Fraticelli was the goal scorer for RU. Emily Nicholls made 10 saves, her fourth double-digit save game on the year. Puck Winter had her 31^st career defensive save, tying the all-time Big Ten record, while Olivia Beattie had a defensive save as well. Michigan had a 13-3 corner advantage and outshot RU 25-9.

Puck Winter's 31st career defensive save in overtime put her in a three-way tie for fourth place in NCAA history. She is also tied for the most in Big Ten history with Ohio State's Beth Senic (1985-88).

In the first quarter, Michigan had the first set of offensive pressure with a series of corners. RU's defense held strong, with Emily Nicholls making a set of saves. The game remained scoreless into the second quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the Scarlet Knights had their first good offensive chance, earning a penalty corner. The team set up a great look, but a shot from Anna Cogdell went just wide to the left of the goalkeeper and the game remained scoreless. Another good chance for RU came on a penalty corner at the four-minute mark in the frame, with RU sending the ball back to the inserter, Puck Winter, but her shot from point-blank range was saved. The game went into halftime and was still tied at 0-0.

To start off the second half, Michigan earned a penalty corner on their first offensive possession of the quarter. The Wolverines capitalized on the corner with the game's first goal just one minute into the second half. Michigan set up the corner for a shot from the top, where the ball was smashed into the bottom right corner of the net for a 1-0 Michigan lead.

Rutgers pressured late in the third quarter. RU had a quick counterattack, leading to a penalty corner. However, Michigan held off the attempt, and the Wolverines carried their 1-0 lead into the fourth quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Rutgers struck for the equalizer. The Scarlet Knights won the ball with a tackle on Michigan's side of the field and drove towards the circle. Paulina Niklaus carried around two defenders and slid the ball to Anna Cogdell. She then sent a pass across the front of the goal, with her pass finding an open Olivia Fraticelli right in front of the goal. The Toms River, N.J. native hammered the ball home for the tying goal. The goal came on just RU's second shot on goal of the day, but it evened the score in the fourth frame.

With 13 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Michigan earned a penalty corner and thought they had scored the winning goal. The Wolverines sent in a hard shot from the top that went into the back of the net. However, the Scarlet Knights asked for a video review. In RU's favor, the shot was ruled to be too high, the goal was overturned, and the contest played on into overtime with a 1-1 score.

In the first overtime, RU had a great chance in the waning seconds, with a 2-on-1 breakout on a counterattack. However, the Michigan goalkeeper charged the ball, halted the play, and RU's shot went wide, sending the game into a second overtime.

Michigan scored the game-winning goal five minutes into the second overtime. The Wolverines earned their 13^th penalty corner of the day. UM inserted the ball, pushed a pass to the right, and launched in a shot for the game-winning goal.

Postgame Notes

• Emily Nicholls has 108 saves on the year. She now has the most saves in a season for any RU goalkeeper under head coach Meredith Civico and the most since for a RU goalkeeper since Rosalyn Wentko had 127 in the 2006 season.
• Olivia Fraticelli's goal was her team-leading 11^th goal of the season. After not scoring a goal through 21 games across two seasons as an underclassman, Fraticelli has scored 11 times in 18 games as a junior.
• Anna Cogdell has career-highs in assists (five) and points (seven) this season.
• It was Rutgers' sixth overtime game of the season but the first this season to go to double overtime. It marked their fourth overtime loss this season.

• Rutgers falls to 5-10 all-time at the Big Ten Tournament and 1-2 against Michigan in the conference tournament. RU previously defeated Michigan in 2021 in the title game of the Big Ten Tournament to win the school's first ever Big Ten Tournament title.