Rutgers aims to make leap up Big Ten

There is a nice mix of experience and youth on the Rutgers field hockey team, and that should make for an interesting season.

The Scarlet Knights, who are beginning their third year in the Big Ten, open the season on Friday at Bucknell and then have their home opener on Saturday against Virginia Commonwealth.

“We are really gelling as a team,” said head coach Meredith Civico. “Preseason camp has been really productive. I’m pleased with how this team is competing and supporting each other on the field. It’s a really good group. I think they are on board with how we are trying to play and what we are trying to do.”

The Big Ten is one of the premier hockey conference’s in the nation and the Scarlet Knights hope a strong senior class helps them make a leap forward this season.

Two of the seniors, Alyssa Bull and Sofia Walia were named to the Big Ten Players to Watch list. Sophomore Linde van Schalk was also named to the Watch list.

The other seniors are, Elyse Broderick, Devon Freshnock, Shevaun Hayes, Kimberly Jevic, Sarah Regn and Rachel Yaney.

“Each one of them serves as a tremendous example for the younger players,” said Civico. “They are doing a tremendous job bringing the freshman in and making them feel comfortable right away.”

Rutgers has five freshmen on the team, and two of them, Alana Gollotto and Nikki Santore, are from state and national powerhouse Eastern High.

Bordentown’s Jess Carey, who has been sidelined with injuries the past two seasons, is a redshirt sophomore and looking to contribute.

The Scarlet Knight are returning 51 percent of their goals from last season, but they’ll need to consistently find the cage to compete.

“We’re scoring goals in the preseason scrimmages, which had been a big focus during the spring,” said Civico. “We’ve got a pretty natural goal scorer in Nikki Santore and I think she’s going to be able to finish a lot of the opportunities we’re creating. We’ve got some speed and we are going to be an exciting attacking team this year.”

Hayes returns to guard the cage and is coming off a 3.41 goals against season in 2015.

“We are going to be pretty interchangeable in terms of our backfield and midfield,” said Civico. “We have a lot of players with a lot of different strengths that we can move around. We have a couple different looks that we can use, which I think will make us hard to defend.”