Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Welcome Big Ten Play
9/23/2004 12:00:00β―AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 23, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- The site of the 2004 Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament will see its first conference action this weekend when Northwestern hosts Big Ten foes Iowa and No. 4 Michigan State at the Leonard B. Thomas Athletic Complex.
NU's match with Iowa is a nonconference affair beginning at 3 p.m. Friday. The Wildcats and Hawkeyes will square off in their official Big Ten meeting on Oct. 29 at Iowa. Northwestern officially begins Big Ten play Sunday with a 1 p.m. match versus Michigan State.
The Wildcats enter the weekend with a 5-3 record, most recently winning a road match with Ball State, 3-2.
"Our team has grown a lot throughout the preseason," NU head coach Kelly McCollum said. "We have been challenged at higher levels in our most recent games and that has helped us prepare for the Big Ten battles ahead."
Iowa comes to Evanston with a 3-4 mark. The Hawkeyes fell to Stanford, 5-1, and defeated Ohio, 3-1, earlier this season. The Wildcats lost to the Cardinal 1-0 and trounced the Bobcats 6-0 in its meetings with the two squads' common opponents. Sarah Dawson has 18 points for Iowa, doubling the output of the Hawkeye's second-best scorer.
Michigan State (8-1), ranked No. 1 in the STX/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) poll earlier in the season, enters the weekend ranked fourth following a 3-2, overtime loss to Wake Forest last weekend.
Veerle Goudswaard leads the Spartans and the Big Ten with 14 goals and 28 points on the season.
"MSU is a very talented team," McCollum said. "If we stick to our standard of play our team will be able to create opportunities for us to score goals. I know our players are up to the challenge against a dangerous attack."
Creating opportunities is something Northwestern has done well this year, leading the Big Ten in assists (21) and assists per game (2.62).
'CAT NIPS
* Northwestern has faced Iowa more than any other opponent in its history, playing 57 matches with the Hawkeyes.
* The Wildcats hold a 29-13 series advantage against Michigan State.
* NU is over .500 eight games into the season for the first time since 1996, when it also began the year 5-3.
* With 67 career points, senior Candice Cooper is now 17th on Northwestern's all-time scoring list.
