No. 8 Rutgers field hockey falls to No. 17 St. Joe’s 2-1 for first loss of the season

No. 8 Rutgers field hockey suffered its first setback of the season in a 2-1 loss on the road to No. 17 St. Joseph’s (4-2) on Sunday. The Hawks held a two goal lead entering the fourth quarter before the Scarlet Knights furious comeback fell short.

All-American Katie Larmour scored her first goal of the season to put RU within striking distance. Milena Redlinshoefer and Kerrie Burns assisted on the goal. The Scarlet Knights had multiple penalty corner opportunities to tie the game and just missed high in the final seconds before the clock ran out.

St. Joe’s held an 11-7 advantage in shots and a 5-4 edge in shots on goal. Rutgers had a 7-6 edge in corners with all of them coming in the second half. All-American goalkeeper Gianna Glatz made three saves for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers is now 4-1 on the season and is 3-1 against ranked foes. They had just defeated No. 16 Syracuse last Friday in double overtime before visiting Philadelphia. They ran into a hot St. Joe’s team that also beat No. 4 North Carolina last Friday.

The Scarlet Knights are in the midst of a stretch of facing seven ranked foes in a row. They’ll host No. 22 Monmouth (4-2) on Friday, September 17 at 3 p.m before traveling to No. 19 Delaware (2-4) on Sunday for a 1 p.m. start. The following weekend, RU opens Big Ten play at No. 5 Northwestern (6-1) on September 24, travel to No. 13 Princeton (0-3) on September 26 and then host No. 2 Iowa (6-0) for the conference home opener on October 1.

The challenging schedule should benefit this team when postseason play begins later this fall. The field hockey team has championship aspirations this season and despite the loss on Sunday, they remain in a good position heading into this weekend. It’s a balanced roster with a lot of experience but with several newcomers contributing as well.