Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Head West
10/11/2007 12:00:00β―AM | Field Hockey
Oct. 11, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Northwestern's last two non-conference games of the year are Saturday at Stanford and Sunday against California.
The back-to-back contests against the NorPac foes mark the first time since 1998 that the Wildcats have traveled to the west coast to compete.
"We are excited to travel to California and have our players experience hockey in a different region of the country," McCollum said. "Both of these teams will be exciting competition for us and help us maintain our level of performance during an off weekend in conference play."
Next weekend, the `Cats play at Lakeside Field for the final time this season against Ohio State on Oct. 19 and Michigan on Oct. 21.
Owning the NorPac...
All-time against Stanford, Northwestern has a 9-3 edge. Against California, the `Cats best the Bears with a 5-2-1 record. In the past two games against the Cardinal, the `Cats have split with a 1-0 loss in 2004 and a 2-0 win in 2003. Coach Kelly McCollum has yet to take on California as a coach, but the last meeting came in 2003, which ended in a 3-0 victory for Northwestern. While playing for the `Cats, McCollum took on the Golden Bears and walked away with a 3-2 victory in double overtime.
Taking on the best...
Four of the `Cats last five games have come against top-10 opponents in American, Michigan State, Penn State and Iowa. Northwestern nearly knocked off Providence on Sunday after coming back from a three-goal deficit, which brought the game into overtime.
Going home...
Three Wildcat players have roots in California. Junior Emily Kyle (San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco University H.S.) and sophomores Meagan Harvey (Carlsbad, Calif./San Dieguito) and Liz Dobbs (Wellesley, Mass./St. Ignatius (Calif.)) all attended high school in the state.
Scoring in bunches...
Sophomore Courtney Plaster-Strange (Hodgenville, Ky./Kentucky County Day) collected her first, second and third goals of the year on Friday and Sunday. Earlier in the season, Alison Bullock (Boyds, Md./Stone Ridge) scored three of her four goals this season in one game against Ball State. Junior Alex Quinn (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) scored four of her team-high five goals in the first three games of the year, which also included a hat trick against Central Michigan.
Goalie shuffle...
Freshman Katie Lynch (Briarcliff, N.Y./Briarcliff) and Kyle have switched in and out of goal in the past three games, both racking up saves in the process. Against Penn State, the two split halves, while Lynch made five second half saves in her first career contest. Lynch followed up her performance with a single-game, conference-best 14 save day against Iowa. Kyle, meanwhile, has 56 saves on the year in 10 games.
