BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Paulina Niklaus had a career day with her first career hat trick, and Rutgers field hockey battled back and forth in a road conference game, but ultimately fell, 4-3, in overtime to the Hoosiers on Sunday afternoon.
On the day, Indiana had the advantage in shots (15-8) and corners (11-6). Niklaus had three goals for RU, all off penalty corners. Vicky Jure had an assist on all three goals, with Guillermina Causarano adding two assists and Bridy Molyneaux with one assist. Sophia Howard had four saves in the cage for RU.
Niklaus scored the first goal of the game at the seven-minute mark. Indiana answered in the first minute of the second quarter, but the game was only tied for four minutes before Niklaus scored again.
RU had a 2-1 halftime lead, but just 23 seconds into the second half, Indiana equalized. Again, it was Niklaus with an answer midway through the third quarter for a 3-2 lead.
Indiana equalized again with ten minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The game was deadlocked at 3-3, as RU headed to extra time for the second time in their past three games.
Overtime would last just under two minutes. IU’s Ines Garcia Prado scored the game-winner, sending home her third goal of the day to lift the hosts to the win. The OT game-winning goal for Indiana was the lone time on the day that the Hoosiers had a lead in the game.
Niklaus, who had her first career multi-goal game last weekend with two tallies in the win over No. 7 Iowa, now shares the team lead in goals (6) with Guillermina Causarano. Causarano’s assists give her a team-best 20 points on…
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