After a roller coaster ride for the regular season, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will open the first round of the Big Ten Tournament against the Northwestern Wildcats.
At No. 12 in the country, the Wildcats (7-2-1 conference record) are the No. 2 seed (22 points) in the Big Ten Tournament. Rutgers is currently ranked No. 20 in the country but fell to the No. 7 seed in the tournament due to tiebreakers, as they finished with a conference record of 5-3-2 (17 points).
In their only meeting this season, the Scarlet Knights and the Wildcats played to a 1-1 draw in September. Given that both teams were ranked in the top ten nationally at that time, and that the match was a home game for Northwestern, the showing was a good one for the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers and Northwestern finished with identical 13-3-2 overall records this season. The Wildcats outscored opponents 37-12 this year, while Rutgers bested opponents 41-14. The difference between the two squads is revealed in the differential of shots taken. Both RU and Northwestern are similar in shots allowed in 2022 (RU 163, Northwestern 162), but while the Wildcats took 238 shots over their 18 games, the Knights amassed a whopping 282 shots.
That difference translates into opportunities, which may well provide the Scarlet Knights the advantage they need in this contest. The Wildcats actually outshot the Knights in their head-to-head match on Sept. 29, with the Northwestern defense limiting Rutgers to just two shots on goal.
The Knights will not likely just throw the offense into high gear to pepper the Wildcat net with shots and leave their own goalkeeper, Meagan McClelland, to fend for herself. Even with eight shutouts this season and 43 over her career, McClelland will need help from the Rutgers defense to keep the Wildcats off the scoreboard.
However, the tight defense that the Knights will no doubt employ will create turnovers, and RU cannot be tentative with their shots on goal. Too often this season Rutgers fans have seen players pass up chances to shoot in favor of one more pass to hopefully find the perfect shot. Against a top-ranked school like Northwestern, the top five offensive players for the Knights, junior Sam Kroeger (7-4-19), junior Allison Lowrey (7-4-18), sophomore Kylie Daigle (5-7-17), junior Sara Brocious (5-6-16) and sophomore Riley Tiernan (3-6-12) will need to be ready to fire the ball when they get the chance. In their game against Northwestern earlier this season, those five players accounted for eight of the ten shots Rutgers took in the game.
Defensively, the Knights will need to be concerned with the Wildcats’ top scorers, junior Josie Aulicino (7-8-22), senior Aurea del Carmen (6-5-17), junior Meg Boade (6-2-14), junior Ella Hase (4-5-13) and senior Rowan Lapi (5-3-13). The Wildcats’ top scorers accounted for more than 75 percent of Northwestern’s goals this season (28 of 37).
Game time is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 30. Should the Knights get past Northwestern, they would next faceoff against the winner of the Wisconsin-Penn State match.
