Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Gears Up For Final Home Weekend
10/21/2004 12:00:00β―AM | Field Hockey
Oct. 21, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern returns home this weekend for the final time before hosting the Big Ten Tournament in November, welcoming No. 19 Penn State Friday before third-ranked Duke comes to town Sunday.
Nothing has come easy so far this season for the Wildcats, whose brutal schedule--14 of NU's 19 matches this season are against teams ranked or receiving votes in the latest NFHCA/STX Coaches Poll--continues this weekend with another pair of matches against ranked foes.
Sunday's match against Duke is Senior Day for Northwestern, with the Wildcats honoring their two seniors Candice Cooper (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) and Morgan Kuhn (Chesterfield, Mo./Lafayette).
No. 19 Penn State currently holds a 9-7 overall record, 2-2 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions are coming off back-to-back conference losses against Michigan State and, most recently, Iowa. Northwestern defeated the 15th-ranked Hawkeyes, 1-0, in a nonconference matchup between the Big Ten schools earlier this year.
Karin Grap and Shaun Banta lead PSU with 15 points each while Megan Akstin has played all but 15 minutes of the season in the cage, bringing a 0.97 goals against average to Evanston.
No. 3 Duke enters the weekend with a record of 12-3. The Blue Devils are lead by a pair of scoring threats in Katie Grant (47 points, third in the nation) and Nicole Dudek (43 points, seventh in the nation). Johanna Bischof leads the nation in assists with 17.
CAT 'NIPS
* Of NU's 14 matches scheduled against opponents ranked in the latest poll, five of those teams are ranked in the top nine.
* Northwestern is 3-18-1 all-time against Penn State and 1-0 all-time versus Duke, winning the only meeting with the Blue Devils 4-3 in 1996.
* Cooper ranks seventh in the nation with 17 goals on the season and is currently riding a five-match goal-scoring streak.
* Freshman Cassie Miller (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) currently leads the team in assists and is second in points. Last season, Meghan Small (Macungie, Pa./Moravian Academy) also led the team in assists and was second in points as a freshman.
