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Less than 24 hours after the No. 15 Rutgers field hockey team defeated No.12 Duke 3-0, they responded with a 5-2 victory over Richmond. Both games took place in Durham, North Carolina on the Blue Devils home field. The Scarlet Knights have now started 2-0 for a fifth straight season
Against the Spiders, RU dominated play with a 23-6 shot advantage and 11-1 edge on penalty corners. After the game was knotted at 1-1 at the half, Rutgers scored three straight goals after the break before answering a Richmond goal with a final tally.
Tayla Parkes scored twice while Lucy Bannatyne, Kassidy Shetlerand Rachel Houston all scored once. Milena Redlingshoefer had three assists in the game after a one goal, one assist performance in the win over Duke. She now has a team-high six points through two games.
All the more impressive this weekend was that Rutgers won both games easily without First Team All-American goalie Gianna Glatz, who just won a bronze medal with Team USA at the Pan Am Games. Also Abby Regn, the anchor on defense, missed both games due to injury. Backup goalie Sophia Howard made two saves in both contests, including her first career shutout on Friday.
The challenging non-conference schedule continues on Friday, September 3 as Rutgers travels to face No. 6 UConn. The Scarlet Knights will certainly be ranked higher than No. 15 after the 2-0 start this weekend. The matchup with the Huskies will be a huge early season test for a team that has championship aspirations this fall.