Field Hockey: 2026 Season Preview

Photo by: Dakota Moyer

Aug 24 | Field Hockey

2026 Media Guide

Scarlet Knights Begin Season this Weekend

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Another season of Rutgers field hockey is on the horizon. A highly accomplished side under the leadership of head coach Meredith Civico, the Scarlet Knights begin the new campaign on the final weekend of August with a mix of exciting new faces and talented returners that make up the shape of a re-made 2026 squad that is poised to contend with the top teams in the nation while playing in the nation's best conference. After two successful scrimmages, it all starts for real this Friday, with the season opener at Monmouth. Game time for the season opener has been updated to start at 4 pm.

Building the Program

Since the start of 2018, Rutgers has a 92-56 record for a .622 % winning percentage. In that time, RU has made three NCAA Tournaments, won the 2021 Big Ten Tournament, and claimed 42 ranked wins, including 15 victories over top-10 foes. Now, RU is looking to keep pushing forward for major achievements.

Head coach Meredith Civico enters her 15^th season at the helm, the second longest tenured RU head coach. She trails just Ann Petracco, who won 248 games across 26 seasons from 1997 to 2002. Leading a team built on a team-centric family culture, Civico has had great success in growing the program. She enters this season with 144 wins, seeking to become the second RU head coach to earn her 150^th career win. RU has won at least nine games in 11 of the past 14 seasons and has at least four Big Ten wins in seven of the past eight.

Looking Back at Last Season

The Scarlet Knights are coming off of a nine-win season in 2025. Competing against a high-level schedule as always, RU lost only to nationally ranked teams while spending every week in the NFHCA Coaches Poll themselves. RU earned four Big Ten wins and claimed a ranked win out of conference over No. 16 UConn.

Rutgers finished with an RPI of 19, with an opponent success measure of 11. Rutgers played six overtime games during the season, including the double-overtime game in the Big Ten Tournament against Michigan.

Rutgers will see the departures of eight players from last season's roster, which includes five players who started double-digit games. Departures include RU's two all-Big Ten and all-region selections from last season, Second Team All-American and Rutgers' all-time record holder in defensive saves, Puck Winter, and First Team All-Region and First Team All-Big Ten selection Paulina Niklaus. Alongside team captain Vicky Jure, Olivia de Zwaan, Ashley Arnold and Dani Gindville, RU must replace 50 points from last season, 40% of the team's output, alongside back Natalie Arnold and Erica Babitts on the defensive end.

Returning Scarlet Knights

The Scarlet Knights bring back eight players with at least one start last season, and five players who started all 18 games.

Five of the top-eight point scorers from last season return as well as four of the seven players that had multiple goals. This includes the team's leading scorer (Olivia Fraticelli with 11 goals) and second leading scorer Sophie Kuiper (eight goals). Kuiper, who has 28 points in 35 collegiate games, will be a team captain for the upcoming year alongside back Olivia Beattie, a senior with 51 career starts across three seasons on the back line.

"As a captain, leading by example is big, especially for the younger players," Beattie explained. "Especially when things aren't going our way, the younger players look up to us and we need to set that tone. We have a lot of new pieces that bring a different look to the game. We've been focused on building our connection, on and off the field. It's an exciting time. Everyone is here to learn and play hockey, and I'm really excited for this season."

"As a captain, creating a family here is important," Kuiper acknowledged. "Creating a good space for everyone to feel supported, especially the new players, getting them used to how the program works. Different cultures are coming together and it's been working really well in training. I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes in games."

Rutgers will bring back two members of the Big Ten's All-Freshman Team last season in Martha Goodridge and Emily Nicholls. Goodridge played through the back and midfield last season, finishing with four goals and two assists. She had the game-winning goal in thrilling fashion as her tally gave RU a 2-1 overtime victory over Ohio State last September.

Goalkeeper Emily Nicholls had 108 saves last season in her debut campaign on the field, 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. Nicholls had a 78.8% save percentage and 1.61 goals-against-average in her debut campaign. Both marks currently stand in RU's all-time top ten for goalkeepers, ninth and eighth respectively.

Nicholls has also gained deep experience on the international level playing with Team USA. Most recently, she was part of a 4 Nations Tournament with the Team USA U-21 squad in England. She competed there against fellow RU teammate Anna Cogdell, who played for the Team England U-21 squad. Cogdell enters her junior season 'On the Banks', a starter in all 35 career games with three goals and six assists and was a member of the Big Ten All-Freshman Team herself back in 2024.

"I'm really excited for this season," Cogdell said. "There are a lot of exciting newcomers. There's been a lot connections already though preseason and the team playing two-touch hockey. I think it is going to be a really exciting season. This season, we don't want to let our losses define us as a team. Looking at the team we have, we can really excel and learn from all our close games last season."

Two other freshmen started at least four games last season in Samantha Arnold and Julia Vinas Nieto. RU also brings back a quartet of players with at least 11 games of experience last season to add to RU's depth: Maddie Kidd, Lyla Rehill, Caroline DeKenipp and Maddie Olshemski.

Newcomers

Rutgers will bring in nine newcomers for the upcoming season, a mix of freshmen, transfers and older international players. Five players come in with freshmen eligibility. That group includes a pair of high regarded New Jersey players and former classmates from Mullica Hill, N.J. in Ella Gandy and Lauren Iaccio.

Backs Eden Doucelin and Sarah Torney come in as international student-athletes. Doucelin was a highly accomplished player in Belgium, where she was a member of the Belgium national program for years and played on the Belgium U-18 squad, while Sarah Torney comes from Ireland, playing for the same club in Belfast that produced multiple RU products including Beattie and Katie Larmour. Goalkeeper Paige Knesich comes to RU from Connecticut.

Rutgers brings in two transfers from high-level collegiate programs. Talia Schenck comes to Rutgers after a decorated career in-state with Princeton. A starter in 49 career games, she was a two-time All-Ivy selection and Second Team All-Region pick in 2024. A Lawrenceville, N.J. native, she has 27 collegiate points (10 goals, seven assists) and was a member of the Team USA U-21 squad, including four goals to lead USA to a silver medal at the 2025 Junior Pan Am Games. Fredrique Vernooij played her freshman season last year at Virginia. The Netherlands native played in 16 games last season with two goals for the Cavaliers.

Two other international players enter RU with one season of collegiate eligibility remaining. Laura Loycke hails from Germany and also competed at the highest junior levels in Australia. Emma Uprichard comes into RU from Belfast, where she was a childhood friend and teammate of fellow Scarlet Knight Olivia Beattie and competed for the Ireland U-16, U-18 and U-21 squads.

The Schedule Ahead

Rutgers has another highly competitive slate on the books for this season, with the Big Ten projected to be one of the deepest and most challenging leagues in the nation. Rutgers will host this year's ACC-Big Ten Challenge, with Virginia, Syracuse and Ohio State competing at RU from September 4-6. Nonconference play also includes perennial powers Princeton and UConn. Six teams on this year's schedule played in the NCAA Tournament last season, and nine foes were ranked in the final coaches' poll of last season.

RU will host a series of exciting themes and fan promotions throughout the year as well. On the weekend of October 16-18 Rutgers will welcome back its letterwinners, also featuring the celebration of the 2021 Big Ten Tournament Team. The group will be honored at the October 18 game against Michigan State on the five-year anniversary of their historic championship. The Scarlet Knights will host a series of Youth Field Hockey Days, welcoming their youngest fans and local youth field hockey teams.

Outlook

One change for the upcoming season of note is the change to overtime rules. Gone is the old format of 7-on-7 for two 10-minute periods. That has been replaced with a continuation of 11-on-11 in overtime, with just one 15-minute period prior to shootouts. The Scarlet Knights have been practicing these outcomes, along with many other tactics, throughout an intense preseason training period over the course of the month of August. As that comes towards its close, all eyes are forward to the season, with the first test coming on Friday at Monmouth.

"Preseason has gone really well," Olivia Fraticelli said. "Everyone came back ready to work, and we've been building our chemistry on and off the field. Going through this preseason together has made us better as a team. We work on staying consistent every game throughout the season."

Gallery: (8-22-2026) Field Hockey Scrimmages Villanova