No. 3 Rutgers field hockey wins program record fourth straight shutout

No. 3 Rutgers field hockey won its fourth consecutive game on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Columbia (6-6). All four wins have been shutouts, which is yet another program record that this team has accomplished already this season. The Scarlet Knights are now 12-2 overall and completed a two game homestand that included a win on Friday over No. 8 Maryland.

RU dominated the action, holding a decisive 28-6 shot advantage and a 12-1 edge in and penalty corners. Gianna Glatz made five saves for her

Bridy Molyneaux scored her first goal of the season in just the 8th minute of the game off of a rebound from a shot by Milena Redlingshoefer that came from a corner. It was Redlingshoefer’s team leading ninth assist.

“We knew we needed to score early, especially after a tough game and good win on Friday against Maryland”, Bridy Molyneaux said. “We were happy to get that goal early. We’ve been working together, that’s when we’re most successful, working as a team and moving the ball up the sidelines. That’s been a key in our wins and we just have to keep that going. We have a deep bench with a lot of great players, and we use that to our advantage. Each week, we go into training with a goal and an idea of what we want to do and what we want to improve on. Each week we keep doing that.”

Redlingshoefer scored her team leading sixth goal from a penalty stroke in the fourth quarter. She now has 21 points on the season, which is a team high and ninth in the Big Ten.

“After such a hard game on Friday, we just focused on getting back to basics,” Katie Larmour said. “We focused on looking after the ball, getting the simple things right, controlling the controllables and taking things into our own hands. It’s great for the program being on this four-game winning streak and putting up shutouts. We have a tough end to the regular season coming up, so we’ll keep focusing on what we need to do well and keep it going heading towards the postseason.”

Rutgers will now travel to face No. 2 Michigan (12-1; 4-1) on Friday, October 22 in a game airing live on BTN+ at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Wolverines just suffered its first loss of the season to No. 1 Iowa last Friday in a shootout. They are tied with the Scarlet Knights at 4-1 in the Big Ten standings in what is a battle for second place in the Big Ten. Iowa clinched at least a share of the conference title this weekend but at 7-0 are unlikely to be caught.

Even so, this is a huge game for Rutgers and Michigan, who have had tremendous season’s in their own right. The Scarlet Knights have nine wins over ranked foes, including four over top ten opponents. They’ll look to make even more history this season in achieving a program best five wins in conference play since joining the Big Ten.