Northwestern University Athletics
1999 Field Hockey Season in Review
11/11/1999 12:00:00β―AM | Field Hockey
Nov. 11, 1999
The 1999 version of Northwestern field hockey was young and inexperienced ? with nine freshmen and three sophomores on the squad, Northwestern saw this year as a rebuilding year. As part of the rebuilding process, the field hockey team saw its share of heartbreaking losses.
With all five other Big Ten teams ranked in the top 20 for most of the season, Northwestern was challenged week in and week out. However, with the exception of a few games, the ?Cats were within one goal of winning or tying games in the last few minutes. NU played No. 3 Iowa close twice, losing by one goal each time in the final few minutes. The same held true against No. 8 Michigan, No. 11 Ohio State and No. 17 Michigan State. In all, Northwestern lost eight games by one goal, six of those in conference play.
Senior Amy Haase led the way offensively, finishing the regular season with nine goals and 12 assists for 30 points. Close behind was junior Lindsay Wright, with nine goals and two assists for 20 points. Senior defensemen Kristy Whitman made the most of her senior day against Michigan State, scoring her third collegiate goal in her career and tallying an assist. Whitman was the only member of the Class of 2000 to start every game in her career. Colleen Hotz scored three goals and tallied one assist for 7 points.
In all, there were 11 players on the team who scored points on the year, including three freshmen. Michelle Cifelli scored her first goal of her career in her first collegiate start against Ohio State. Jill Gillespie (goal) and Lindsay Millard (assist) scored their first collegiate points on opening day of the 1999 season against Central Michigan.
The defensive end of the field had two mainstays all year, seniors Ana Perez and Ryann Carmody. These two combined to form the backbone of the Wildcat defense. With flashes of offense from both players, their main concern was the protection of senior goalkeeper Jessica Yates.
Yates, who along with Haase earned second team All-Big Ten, led the conference in saves with 148 overall and 81 in conference play. She had a save percentage of .771 and a goals-against average of 2.93.
With nine freshmen on the team, eight of whom earned regular playing time, NU had to learn on the go.
