Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Will Welcome Cardinal, Travel to Maryland
9/7/2004 12:00:00β―AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 7, 2004
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern will play host to the Stanford Cardinal tomorrow before traveling to College Park, Md., for games against American University and the Terps this weekend. The Wildcats are currently enjoying a four-game, season-opening winning streak.
NU, coming off a weekend in which it scored 11 goals in two games, has tallied 17 goals in its first four games--the most in a four game stretch in 13 years.
Wildcat senior Candice Cooper (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) is coming off the best week of her career after scoring eight goals and 17 points in the last three games. She earned the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week nod and was named to womensfieldhockey.com's weekly Honor Roll for her efforts.
Despite the offensive output, Northwestern head coach Kelly McCollum knows her team has yet to play its best hockey.
"We know we need to respond from one game to the next," McCollum said. "Our kids are learning how hard it is to win at this level."
The Wildcats' next test will come at 1 p.m. tomorrow, Sept. 8, when Stanford comes to town for a midweek contest at the Leonard B. Thomas Athletic Complex.
The Cardinal (2-3) is coming off a 2-1 win over Louisville. Stanford also defeated Providence and dropped matches with Boston University, Indiana and Hofstra. Jessica Zutz leads the Cardinal with three goals and six points.
"Stanford is going to be a very quick team," McCollum said. "It will be a tough way to end our homestand."
Northwestern travels to College Park, Md., this weekend for a 1 p.m. match with American on Saturday, Sept. 11, and a 1 p.m. face off with the Terps on Sunday, Sept 12.
The Eagles (2-2) split matches at the Temple Tournament last weekend, beating the Owls, 4-2, and losing to North Carolina, 2-0. Camila Infante has three goals and seven points to pace American.
Maryland (4-0) has been steamrolling opponents so far this season. The Terps beat Drexel, 7-1, and Old Dominion, 6-0, last weekend. Jackie Ciconte has four goals and nine points to lead the Terps while Anja Boettcher also has four scores on the season. Goalkeeper Christina Restivo has a 1.05 goals against average with a pair of shutouts.
"We are facing very strong teams this weekend," McCollum said. "We need to be on top of our game to beat them."
