Ben Rice has quickly become a familiar name among New York Yankees fans, but his life away from the baseball diamond has also attracted growing curiosity. One person who has been part of his journey long before the attention surrounding his Major League Baseball career is his longtime girlfriend, Sara Falkson.
Rice and Falkson have a connection that stretches back years, well before professional baseball entered the picture. Both grew up with competitive sports playing a major part in their lives, attended the same high school and later studied at Dartmouth College. While Rice continued chasing baseball, Falkson developed an impressive path of her own through field hockey, engineering and higher education.
Their story is less about a sudden celebrity romance and more about two young athletes whose lives developed alongside one another.
Who Is Ben Rice’s Girlfriend?
Ben Rice’s girlfriend is Sara Falkson, a former Dartmouth field hockey player with a background in engineering and design.
Falkson has largely maintained a life outside the celebrity world that often surrounds professional athletes. Her own accomplishments cover athletics, academics and professional work, giving her an identity that extends well beyond being known as Rice’s partner.
The pair have shared occasional glimpses of their relationship through social media over the years. Those posts have shown everything from sporting events to milestones in their respective careers.
Their connection appears to have begun well before Rice became a Yankees player.
Ben Rice and Sara Falkson Go Back to Their School Years
Rice and Falkson both attended Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts. Often known simply as Nobles, the private school has a strong academic and athletic tradition.
Sports were already important to both of them at the time. Rice was building the baseball foundation that would eventually take him into professional baseball, while Falkson was developing as a field hockey player.
Their shared athletic background continued when both eventually attended Dartmouth College.
Rice played baseball for Dartmouth, while Falkson became part of the school’s field hockey program. Having two competitive college athletes in a relationship likely meant busy schedules, training sessions and plenty of travel, but their social media activity over the years showed them supporting one another through those demands.
One of Rice’s older Instagram posts offered a lighthearted glimpse into their relationship. In 2019, he marked six months together by joking about watching a sport he did not fully understand while still cheering for Dartmouth.
That post also provides a useful timeline for their relationship, showing that the pair were together years before Rice reached the majors.
Sara Falkson Played Field Hockey at Dartmouth
Falkson wasn’t simply watching sports from the sidelines. She had her own competitive athletic career.
At Dartmouth, she played field hockey and developed into a leadership figure within the program. She was named a captain for the 2020 season, an achievement that reflected the role she had built within the team.
Being selected as captain carries responsibilities beyond simply performing well during games. College captains are often expected to provide leadership during training, communicate with teammates and help maintain standards throughout a season.
Her experience as a student athlete also gives Falkson and Rice something significant in common. Both understand the less glamorous side of competitive sports, including long practices, physical demands, travel and balancing athletics with academic responsibilities.
While Rice ultimately continued into professional baseball, Falkson moved toward engineering and design after college.
Sara Falkson Built a Career in Engineering
Following her undergraduate education at Dartmouth, Falkson expanded her academic background by pursuing graduate studies in design engineering at Harvard University.
Her education reflects an interesting combination of technical problem solving and human-centered design. Design engineering often sits between traditional engineering, product development and the way people interact with technology.
Alongside her education, Falkson has also developed professional experience in the technology industry. She joined IBM in 2021 in a design engineering role and has continued adding skills connected with user experience and design.
That career path makes her story notably different from the typical public profile sometimes attached to the partner of a professional athlete.
While Rice has been trying to establish himself in one of baseball’s most recognizable organizations, Falkson has been building a professional identity in a completely different field.
Athletics Remained Part of Sara Falkson’s Life
Leaving college field hockey did not mean Falkson completely moved away from athletics.
She continued participating in endurance events and used sport as a way to support a cause connected to athlete health. In November 2024, Falkson participated in the New York City Marathon while representing Who We Play For, an organization focused on helping provide heart screenings for young people.
Her participation was connected with fundraising efforts aimed at expanding access to affordable cardiac screenings for athletes.
The effort brought together several parts of her background. She remained physically active while supporting a cause directly connected with the wellbeing of young athletes.
It also showed that competitive sports continued to have a place in her life even after her Dartmouth field hockey career had ended.
Ben Rice’s Yankees Breakthrough
Rice’s own career took a major step forward when he made his MLB debut with the New York Yankees in June 2024.
His arrival came when the Yankees needed additional help at first base following Anthony Rizzo’s injury. Rice had spent his early professional career developing through the Yankees’ minor league system after being selected by the organization in the 12th round of the 2021 MLB Draft.
His path to the majors was relatively quick considering where he was drafted.
Rice had already demonstrated an ability to reach base and produce offensively in the minor leagues. Once an opportunity opened in New York, the Yankees gave him his first chance against major league pitching.
His debut represented the kind of moment young baseball players spend years working toward. For Rice, it also arrived with Falkson still part of his life after having watched his career develop from school baseball through Dartmouth, the minor leagues and eventually Yankee Stadium.
Sara Falkson Has Supported Rice Through His Baseball Journey
One recurring part of Rice and Falkson’s public relationship has been their willingness to celebrate one another’s achievements.
Long before the Yankees became involved, their posts showed support for college athletic milestones. That pattern continued as Rice progressed through professional baseball.
Falkson has attended games and appeared in photographs connected with his baseball career, while Rice has previously acknowledged her sporting accomplishments as well.
That history gives their relationship an unusual perspective compared with couples who meet after an athlete has already become famous.
Falkson knew Rice before the MLB attention, crowded stadiums and growing recognition. Their relationship developed during years when both were students attempting to balance demanding athletic schedules with their education.
Their Relationship Has Stayed Relatively Private
Despite Rice’s increasing visibility, neither he nor Falkson has turned their relationship into a constant public storyline.
There have been social media posts and photographs over the years, but much of their everyday life remains private. They appear to share selected moments rather than documenting every part of their relationship for an audience.
That approach has become increasingly noticeable as Rice’s profile has grown.
Professional athletes can experience a sudden rise in public interest once they reach a major market, and playing for the Yankees brings an especially large amount of attention. Falkson, meanwhile, has continued to be associated primarily with her own education, career and athletic background.
Publicly available information also does not establish that the couple is married. Falkson is generally described as Rice’s longtime girlfriend, and speculation about future plans should be treated separately from confirmed information.
Sara Falkson Has Her Own Story
It would be easy to view Sara Falkson only through her connection to a Yankees player, but her background tells a much broader story.
She competed at the NCAA level, became a Dartmouth field hockey captain, pursued an engineering career, continued her education at Harvard and remained involved with athletics through events such as the New York City Marathon.
Rice, meanwhile, went from Dartmouth baseball to the Yankees organization and eventually reached the major leagues.
Their careers could hardly look more different today, yet competitive sports formed an important part of both of their early lives.
That shared history helps explain why interest in Ben Rice and Sara Falkson goes beyond the usual curiosity surrounding an athlete’s dating life. Their relationship began before Rice’s major league breakthrough and developed while both were pursuing demanding goals of their own.
As Rice continues building his baseball career, Falkson remains one of the familiar people who has been around since well before his name appeared regularly in Yankees lineups. At the same time, her own journey through athletics, engineering and design makes it clear that she has been building a distinct career alongside him rather than simply following his rise in baseball.