Friday, September 25
College Park, Md.
4:00 PM
Rutgers
at
Maryland
Field Hockey Plays No. 2 Maryland on BTN Friday, Hosts La Salle Sunday
Sep 23 | Field Hockey
PISCATAWAY, N.J. ā Rutgers field hockey starts Big Ten play this weekend. The Scarlet Knights travel to No. 2 ranked Maryland on Friday for a 4 pm game. The weekend continues on Sunday as RU returns home to host La Salle at noon on Youth Field Hockey Day.
Maryland's game will be nationally televised on Big Ten Network. Jack Rinaldi and Kara Lentz will be on the call. Sunday's game at home will be live streamed on B1G+.
About Rutgers
Rutgers completed a weekend sweep of a road trip last weekend, defeating Albany (7-2) and Colgate (3-1), outscoring their foes by an average margin of 3.5 goals per game.
Lauren Iaccio was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week following the road trip. In addition to keying RU's defense, she scored the game-winning goal in the victory over Colgate.
The freshman back has started all eight games this season. She is one of three true freshmen (Iaccio, Ella Gandy, Eden Doucelin) and five newcomers overall (Emma Uprichard, Talia Schenck) to start at least six games this year.
Another newcomer, Laura Loycke had a hat trick in the win at the Great Danes on Friday to lead the offense last weekend. She has five goals on the year, second to team leader Olivia Fraticelli, who has seven.
Fraticelli was RU's first weekly award winner this season as she was named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week after scoring four goals in the opening weekend of the season. The senior has scored all 18 of her career goals across the past 26 games across the past two seasons. Fraticelli needs two more goals to become the 16th RU player all-time with 20 career goals.
Meredith Civico enters the weekend with 148 lifetime wins as the RU head coach. She can reach the 150-win milestone as early as Sunday.
Emily Nicholls leads the Big Ten with 5 saves per game, with 40 stops on the season. She had 108 saves last season, the most saves in a season for any RU goalkeeper under head coachĀ Meredith CivicoĀ and the most for a RU goalkeeper since Rosalyn Wentko had 127 in the 2006 season.
Rutgers holds the sixth toughest strength of schedule in the nation currently. It's future opponents combined for a .682 winning percentage on the year, which is the fifth toughest remaining path nationally.
About the Series
Rutgers and Maryland have played 44 times all-time, dating back to 1978. Over that time, Maryland holds a 38-5-1 advantage in the all-time series. Rutgers has never earned a road win at Maryland. After Rutgers' NCAA Tournament bound squads in 1984 and 1986 earned wins over the Terps, Maryland won 28 of the next 29 meetings between 1987 and 2021. On October 15, 2021, Rutgers earned a 1-0 win over Maryland to snap that long streak, then won again in 2023, a 3-2 victory in shootouts. Maryland has won the last three meetings in the series.
In 2021, RU earned a gritty 1-0 victory over UM. With the Terps ranked No. 8 in the nation, the lone goal in the game came off of a penalty stroke, converted by Milena Redlingshoefer. Gianna Glatz was spectacular in the cage in the win, with 12 saves. A two-time First Team All-American, that game represented Glatz's career-high in saves across 90 games as a Scarlet Knight as she backstopped RU to their first win over Maryland as Big Ten conference members, and first since 1998 overall. Ā
2023 saw another dramatic tight game between the two squads. Both teams were ranked in the top-10 nationally for this game, with RU at No. 6 and Maryland at No. 8. Julianne Kopec and Guillermina Causarano had goals in regulation, but the game would head through two overtimes even at 2-2. In the penalty shootout, Marique Dieudonne, Iris Langejans and Paulina Niklaus all converted for RU while Maryland missed three attempts against RU goalkeeper Sophia Howard.
Rutgers ā Maryland Connections
Rutgers' head coach Meredith Civico won a national championship as a player in 2005 at Maryland. A two-time letterwinner in 2003 and 2005, she also served as a student-assistant coach for Maryland under Meharg during the 2004 season, as she took an injury redshirt, giving Meredith her first collegiate coaching experience.Ā
Maryland assistant coach and goalkeeper coordinator Maddy Sposito, in her second year with the program, previously spent nine seasons in the same role at Rutgers from 2015 to 2023.
About Maryland
Maryland enters the weekend undefeated on the year, with the number 2 RPI. Coming off a 1-0 win over No.4 Wake Forest on Sunday, Maryland improved to 8-0 on the year with two ranked wins, both over top-six teams. They are one of four remaining undefeated teams. The Terps are also 5-0 at home.
UM is outscoring opponents on the year by a 27-4 margin. The Terps have five shutouts in their eight wins.
The Terps are top-10 nationally in goals-against-average (second), shutouts (second), save percentage (fourth), assists (sixth), points (ninth) and scoring margin (ninth).
Goalkeeper Alyssa Klebasko has a goal-against-average of 0.57, fourth nationally and first in the Big Ten. She is also seventh nationally in save percentage (.826). Babs van Hest leads the team with 16 points (five goals, six assists) and Francisca Eschoeyez has a team-high six goals.
A Victory over No. 2 Maryland would represent:
La Salle enters the weekend with a 2-5 record. They hold wins over New Haven and Queens, with losses to VCU, Penn, mutual opponent Colgate, Cornell and Villanova.
The Explorers are sixth nationally with 10.14 saves per game. That includes a NCAA best seven defensive saves. Goalkeeper Abby Boggs averages 9.86 saves per game. Tilly Diedrichsen leads the team with four goals.
Rutgers is 17-2-1 all-time against La Salle, having first played in 1975. RU played La Salle in consecutive years in 2022 and 2023, each time earning a 2-0 win.
Up Next
Rutgers has two home games the following weekend. On Friday, October 2, RU returns home to host Penn State at 3 pm in the Blackout Game. On Sunday, October 4, American visits.
Ā
Maryland's game will be nationally televised on Big Ten Network. Jack Rinaldi and Kara Lentz will be on the call. Sunday's game at home will be live streamed on B1G+.
About Rutgers
Rutgers completed a weekend sweep of a road trip last weekend, defeating Albany (7-2) and Colgate (3-1), outscoring their foes by an average margin of 3.5 goals per game.
Lauren Iaccio was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week following the road trip. In addition to keying RU's defense, she scored the game-winning goal in the victory over Colgate.
The freshman back has started all eight games this season. She is one of three true freshmen (Iaccio, Ella Gandy, Eden Doucelin) and five newcomers overall (Emma Uprichard, Talia Schenck) to start at least six games this year.
Another newcomer, Laura Loycke had a hat trick in the win at the Great Danes on Friday to lead the offense last weekend. She has five goals on the year, second to team leader Olivia Fraticelli, who has seven.
Fraticelli was RU's first weekly award winner this season as she was named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week after scoring four goals in the opening weekend of the season. The senior has scored all 18 of her career goals across the past 26 games across the past two seasons. Fraticelli needs two more goals to become the 16th RU player all-time with 20 career goals.
Meredith Civico enters the weekend with 148 lifetime wins as the RU head coach. She can reach the 150-win milestone as early as Sunday.
Emily Nicholls leads the Big Ten with 5 saves per game, with 40 stops on the season. She had 108 saves last season, the most saves in a season for any RU goalkeeper under head coachĀ Meredith CivicoĀ and the most for a RU goalkeeper since Rosalyn Wentko had 127 in the 2006 season.
Rutgers holds the sixth toughest strength of schedule in the nation currently. It's future opponents combined for a .682 winning percentage on the year, which is the fifth toughest remaining path nationally.
About the Series
Rutgers and Maryland have played 44 times all-time, dating back to 1978. Over that time, Maryland holds a 38-5-1 advantage in the all-time series. Rutgers has never earned a road win at Maryland. After Rutgers' NCAA Tournament bound squads in 1984 and 1986 earned wins over the Terps, Maryland won 28 of the next 29 meetings between 1987 and 2021. On October 15, 2021, Rutgers earned a 1-0 win over Maryland to snap that long streak, then won again in 2023, a 3-2 victory in shootouts. Maryland has won the last three meetings in the series.
In 2021, RU earned a gritty 1-0 victory over UM. With the Terps ranked No. 8 in the nation, the lone goal in the game came off of a penalty stroke, converted by Milena Redlingshoefer. Gianna Glatz was spectacular in the cage in the win, with 12 saves. A two-time First Team All-American, that game represented Glatz's career-high in saves across 90 games as a Scarlet Knight as she backstopped RU to their first win over Maryland as Big Ten conference members, and first since 1998 overall. Ā
2023 saw another dramatic tight game between the two squads. Both teams were ranked in the top-10 nationally for this game, with RU at No. 6 and Maryland at No. 8. Julianne Kopec and Guillermina Causarano had goals in regulation, but the game would head through two overtimes even at 2-2. In the penalty shootout, Marique Dieudonne, Iris Langejans and Paulina Niklaus all converted for RU while Maryland missed three attempts against RU goalkeeper Sophia Howard.
Rutgers ā Maryland Connections
Rutgers' head coach Meredith Civico won a national championship as a player in 2005 at Maryland. A two-time letterwinner in 2003 and 2005, she also served as a student-assistant coach for Maryland under Meharg during the 2004 season, as she took an injury redshirt, giving Meredith her first collegiate coaching experience.Ā
Maryland assistant coach and goalkeeper coordinator Maddy Sposito, in her second year with the program, previously spent nine seasons in the same role at Rutgers from 2015 to 2023.
About Maryland
Maryland enters the weekend undefeated on the year, with the number 2 RPI. Coming off a 1-0 win over No.4 Wake Forest on Sunday, Maryland improved to 8-0 on the year with two ranked wins, both over top-six teams. They are one of four remaining undefeated teams. The Terps are also 5-0 at home.
UM is outscoring opponents on the year by a 27-4 margin. The Terps have five shutouts in their eight wins.
The Terps are top-10 nationally in goals-against-average (second), shutouts (second), save percentage (fourth), assists (sixth), points (ninth) and scoring margin (ninth).
Goalkeeper Alyssa Klebasko has a goal-against-average of 0.57, fourth nationally and first in the Big Ten. She is also seventh nationally in save percentage (.826). Babs van Hest leads the team with 16 points (five goals, six assists) and Francisca Eschoeyez has a team-high six goals.
A Victory over No. 2 Maryland would represent:
- Match the highest ranked win in program history (Rutgers' previously beat the No. 2 team in the nation with a win over No. 2 Michigan in the 2021 Big Ten Tournament Championship)
- The second ranked win of the season and 38th ranked win for RU since 2018
- Rutgers' first ever road win at Maryland
- Rutgers' sixth all-time win over Maryland and 3rd since 2021
La Salle enters the weekend with a 2-5 record. They hold wins over New Haven and Queens, with losses to VCU, Penn, mutual opponent Colgate, Cornell and Villanova.
The Explorers are sixth nationally with 10.14 saves per game. That includes a NCAA best seven defensive saves. Goalkeeper Abby Boggs averages 9.86 saves per game. Tilly Diedrichsen leads the team with four goals.
Rutgers is 17-2-1 all-time against La Salle, having first played in 1975. RU played La Salle in consecutive years in 2022 and 2023, each time earning a 2-0 win.
Up Next
Rutgers has two home games the following weekend. On Friday, October 2, RU returns home to host Penn State at 3 pm in the Blackout Game. On Sunday, October 4, American visits.
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Players Mentioned
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