The Scarlet Knights completed the indoor portion of their semester preparations with a tremendous showing at the Big Apple Tournament earlier in March. The team’s Scarlet Team entry took first place. Goalkeeper Emily Nicholls was named the MVP of the Collegiate Division.
With the weather warming, the squad has been back on the turf at Bauer Field to tune up ahead of some offseason exhibition contests. Rutgers has two home contests this fall. First up, RU hosts Syracuse on April 5. The team will welcome Lafayette for an exhibition on April 26.
In connection with each home exhibition contest, the field hockey program will host a recruiting clinic. Registration for those Elite ID Clinics is available at this link.
The contest against the Orange begins at 1 p.m. that Saturday. Player check-in will be from 3 to 3:30 pm, with the clinic running from 3:30 to 5:30 pm.
The Scarlet Knights will also be on the road on April 12, traveling for a contest at UConn.
RU has won 51 of their past 78 games over the past four seasons. During the year, RU defeated four ranked teams: No. 3 Ohio State, No. 7 Iowa, No. 7 Ohio State, and No. 17 Penn State. Rutgers has 17 ranked wins in the past five seasons and 41 ranked wins since 2018, which includes 16 top-10 wins since 2021. The team was ranked in the top-20 for numerous weeks in both the NFHCA Coaches Poll and the RPI rankings.
Players Mentioned
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#1 Emily Nicholls
- GK
- Freshman
Ajai Dhadwal to Compete at Can Am Indoor Tournament
Dhadwal is one of nine players on the USA Senior Men roster for the weekends event. The team starts competition on Saturday with an 8:30 am matchup against Canada. Three matchups against Canada are scheduled across Saturday and Sunday.
This is the second international competition for Dhadwal in a month span. In February, Dhadwal traveled to Oman with Team USA, where he competed with the Red, White and Blue at the FIH Men’s Nation’s Cup.
Dhadwal is an experienced player at the international level, with a long history of playing with Team USA with over 100 international caps. He has competed in multiple international events, including multiple Pan American Cups, and has served as a captain for Team USA across multiple events.
Dhadwal initially joined the Rutgers field hockey coaching staff in 2017, shortly after competing in that year’s Outdoor Pan Am Cup. He was on the coaching staff through the team’s Big Ten Tournament Championship in the fall of 2021. He rejoined the coaching staff in 2024 for his second stint on the RU bench.
The field hockey program recently completed the indoor portion of their spring slate with a First Place finish at the Big Apple Indoor Tournament. Goalkeeper Emily Nicholls was also named the MVP of the Collegiate Division at that event. Rutgers will resume spring competitions in April with matchups against Syracuse, UConn and Lafayette.
Field Hockey
Rutgers Student-Athletes Participate in Read Across America Initiative
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – As the calendar turns to March, elementary schools are celebrating National Reading Month, with ongoing campaigns for encourage a love of readers for young learners. In partnership with the celebration of Dr. Suess’ birthday on March 2, the Read Across America program takes place to encourage reading.
Starting February 28 and continuing until March 18, student-athletes from Rutgers Athletics are giving back to the local community by participating in the program. Organized by Scarlet Knights For Life, over the past month, 204 student-athletes from 16 teams gave back 404 hours to 19 schools in 5 communities by participating in the national celebration of Read Across America.attending different schools in the New Brunswick, Piscataway, East Brunswick, and Edison areas. The student-athletes read to the children, engaging them in conversation, while also encouraging them to participate in sports and spend time playing outdoors.
The program partners with the Big Ten’s “Big Impact Reading Week” initiative. This initiative is dedicated to empowering student-athletes by encouraging them to make a positive impact through reading books to youth. Through Big Impact Reading Week, the Big Ten continues to champion the importance of education, empathy, and inclusivity, creating a sense of community beyond the playing field.
“Each year, the student athletes share their journey of dedication and commitment to their goals to help them be where they are today. We hope that this mindset transfers into not only learning goals for our students, but personal goals as well,” explained Kathryn Lehocky, a reading specialist at Memorial Elementary. “We hope that our students first and foremost can learn that hard work and perseverance can help them achieve any goal. All of the staff at Memorial unanimously agreed that the student athletes were true role models for our students, as they demonstrated many admirable traits that we strive to teach our students each day.”
One of the core tenants of the Scarlet Knights For Life program is community engagement. The program focuses on ongoing service initiatives and facilitates ways for student-athletes to interact and build relationships with the local community. Read Across America is one of a multitude of annual programs, also including participating in initiatives such as Saturdays in Motion, Elijah’s Promise, Soles4Souls, and other campus programs and traditions.
“The Men’s Soccer team was very professional, genuine, and patient as they spoke to all of our students,” Lehocky said. “As students were entering the school and walking by the main office, many of them noticed all of the soccer players inside. Some of them poked their heads into the office to get a sneak peek, while others came in and started speaking to the student athletes right away. Regardless of the age or conversation, all of the student athletes enthusiastically interacted with our students, bringing the brightest smile on all of their faces! Later on that morning when the student athletes saw those students again, they said hello to these students by name. The excitement on our students’ faces was priceless, and you could just tell how much that meant to them and made their day! We cannot thank the Men’s Soccer Team enough for sharing their time with us and we are looking forward to welcoming them back to Memorial Elementary School very soon!”
