Northwestern University Athletics
NU Takes Final Homestand This Weekend
10/17/2007 12:00:00β―AM | Field Hockey
Oct. 17, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Northwestern's final two home games of the season come this weekend against Ohio State on Friday and Michigan on Sunday.
Northwestern comes into the weekend after having split its games last weekend at Stanford and California, which was its first trip to the west coast since 1998. NU beat Stanford 3-1 on the shoulders of two Courtney Plaster-Strange (Hodgenville, Ky./Kentucky Country Day) goals and fell to Stanford, 2-1, despite Liz Dobb's (Wellesley, Mass./St. Ignatius, Calif.)) first goal of the year.
Weekend Notes:
Scouting the Buckeyes...
Northwestern is 26-22-1 all-time against Ohio State with games dating back to 1979. Ohio State comes to Evanston following consecutive 2-1 losses to Louisville and Iowa. The Buckeyes last win came Oct. 23 against Missouri State.
Scouting the Wolverines...
Northwestern holds a 29-17 edge over Michigan all-time, which is a series that dates back to 1980. Michigan is coming off a 3-2 overtime victory against Central Michigan, who Northwestern defeated 4-2 in the first game of the year. Michigan has now won 10 straight games, dating back to Sept. 14.
It's not that strange...
But Courtney Plaster-Strange has scored five goals and assisted on one more in the past four games. Her 11 points in four games is the most on the team in any four-game stretch this season. Alex Quinn (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) accumulated 10 points in a four game stretch earlier this season and Alison Bullock (Boyds, Md./Stone Ridge) was able to rack up eight points on four goals from Sept. 3-16.
Fab Five...
While 16 different Wildcats have made starts on the year, only five remain that have started all 13: Bullock, Quinn, Plaster-Strange, Amanda Care (Newtown, Pa./Pennsbury) and Jill Putnam (Greenfield, Mass./Greenfield). Senior Katie Charles (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), has started in 12 of the 13 this season.
Common enemies...
Ohio State has taken on five opponents that Northwestern has played as well. In those five games, the Buckeyes have fallen to each opponent (Kent State, Maryland, American, Ball State, Michigan State).
No. 32 in the RPI...
Playing against five top 10 teams has earned Northwestern the No. 32 spot in the first RPI rankings that have been released. Sunday, NU plays against No. 4 Michigan and follows on Oct. 25 with No. 5 Iowa. In the RPI, Northwestern has played against eight total teams ranked higher than 32nd.
Score one for Dobbs...
Sophomore Liz Dobbs scored her first goal of the season on Sunday, which tied the 'Cats with Stanford, 1-1. Last season, Dobbs scored four goals on 34 shots in the 18 games she played.
Making the assist...
Quinn passed for her fifth assist on the year on Sunday, taking a firm grip on the team lead. Putnam has the second most assists on the team with two.
