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The Rutgers field hockey team continued to make history on Tuesday as they earned the program’s highest ever national ranking in this week’s Coaches Poll (NFHCA) as the Scarlet Knights were No. 3. Last week, RU was ranked No. 5 before defeating then No. 4 Penn State 1-0 in Happy Valley.
The Scarlet Knights are currently 10-2 overall this season and 3-1 in Big Ten play. They have set a program record with eight ranked wins this season. Six of those victories have come on the road, including three against top ten foes and two against top five teams.
Both losses this season have come against ranked foes as Rutgers gave undefeated No. 1 Iowa all they could handle earlier this month, as well as a road loss to No. 11 St. Joseph’s.
In this week’s poll, the Big Ten has five teams ranked in the top six nationally, as well as six of the top eight and seven teams overall.
Rutgers has benefitted from a balanced scoring attack this season with four players tied for the team lead with four goal apiece, in addition to having eight players having scored multiple goals and eleven goal scorers overall. Milena Redlingshoefer, Kerrie Burns, Lucy Bannatyne and Gianna Mancini each have scored four times. Redlingshoefer leads the team with 8 assists and 16 points overall.
All-American goalkeeper Gianna Glatz has three shutouts this season and has a 0.97 goals against average as well as .737 save percentage. She had her best game of her final campaign on the banks with a season high 8 saves in the win over Penn State.
Rutgers now enters the final six game stretch of the regular season which includes four contests at home and all against winning teams. They’re back in action against No. 8 Maryland (8-4; 1-3) on Friday, October 15 at 3 p.m. followed by Sunday, October 17 at 1 p.m. against Columbia (6-3). The Scarlet Knights will make their final road trip of the season the following weekend against No. 2 Michigan (11-0; 3-0) on Friday, October 22 and No. 19 Ohio State (7-5; 1-2) on Sunday, October 24. The last two contests at home before the postseason will be versus Michigan State (7-3; 0-3) on Friday, October 29 and Lafayette (10-2) on Sunday, October 31.
The Scarlet Knights will look to finish the regular season strong with a real chance to have a special postseason. For the first time ever, Rutgers will host the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament on November 4-7. For ticket information, click here. They are also looking to earn their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018, which broke over a three decade drought from the previous trip. The way this team has played so far this season, there is no reason to doubt their best days are ahead of them.