Northwestern University Athletics
'Cats Begin Conference Play at No. 8 Penn State
9/23/2005 12:00:00β―AM | Field Hockey
Sept. 23, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After posting an impressive 5-2 record during nonconference play, Northwestern's field hockey team begins the Big Ten season in State College, Pa., to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions at 11 a.m., on Saturday, Sept. 24.
At 5-2, the Wildcats are off to their best start since the 1995 team went 6-1 through the first seven matches. That team went on to take second in the Big Ten.
Northwestern is coming off a 1-1 weekend after beating Ball State on Friday, Sept. 16, then falling to then-No. 14 Louisville on Sunday, Sept. 18. The Wildcats were riding a five-game winning streak heading into the match with Louisville, but fell 4-3 to the Cardinals.
Following the Louisville match, a number of Wildcats are making waves statistically at the Big Ten and national level. Senior Ellen Schlafly (St. Louis, Mo./MICDS) is tied for 19th in the nation and third in the Big Ten with .86 goals per game.
Junior Meghan Small (Bethlehem, Pa./Moravian Academy) is third in the Big Ten in shots per game (4.14) and fifth in the conference in total shots (29).
Defensively, junior goalkeeper Sherri-Anne Nyberg (Kelowna, British Columbia/Kelowna Secondary) ranks ninth in the NCAA and leads the Big Ten with 66 saves.
As a team, Northwestern ranks 13th in the country in goals per game (3.06) and received 57 votes in the most recent N.F.H.C.A. poll.
Nyberg and the rest of the Wildcat backfield will need to contain a Penn State offense that has three of the conference leaders in goals scored.
Penn State, ranked No. 8 nationally, is putting a nine-game winning streak on the line against the Wildcats. Northwestern is 3-19-1 all-time against the Nittany Lions, and hasn't won in State College since 1994.
