Tracey Fuchs Era Begins Friday at Northwestern

8/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Aug. 26, 2009

NU Field Hockey Weekly Release -- 8/26

EVANSTON, Ill. -- After months of preparation, Northwestern is ready to begin game competition under the direction of first-year head coach Tracey Fuchs when it hosts the Wildcat Classic Aug. 28-31. NU, which features six seniors on this year's roster, opens 2009 at 11 a.m. Friday against Boston University before taking on Ohio Saturday and defending NCAA champion Maryland on Monday.

• Video of each of the first four games of the Wildcat Classic will be streamed live in the All-Access multimedia channel on NUSports.com while Gametracker coverage is available for all five contests. (See schedule below for specific links.)

• This season, NUsports.com is also making the fan-following experience even more complete thanks to its newly launched Twitter account, @NU_SportsLIVE. Wildcat fans can rely on this site for play descriptions and everything else that won't make its way into the final box score.

The complete schedule for the Wildcat Classic at Lakeside Field is as follows:

Friday, Aug. 28:
        11 a.m. -- Northwestern vs. Boston University ()
        2 p.m. -- Maryland vs. Ohio ()
Saturday, Aug. 29:
        Noon -- Maryland vs. Boston University ()
        3 p.m. -- Northwestern vs. Ohio ()
Sunday, Aug. 30: NO GAMES
Monday, Aug. 31:
        Noon -- Northwestern vs. Maryland ()

• Tracey Fuchs, widely regarded as the best field hockey player the U.S. National Team has ever produced, takes over at NU after a 12-year championship-laden stint as associate head coach at Michigan. Also an award-winning coach with the U.S. Junior National Team, Fuchs led the American U-18 team to an eighth-place finish at the Junior World Cup earlier this month in Boston.

• In the preseason edition of the Kookaburra/NFHCA poll, Northwestern received 25 votes and landed just outside the poll's top 25. All seven Big Ten programs are either in the top 25 or the receiving votes category while 12 of NU's 2009 opponents make an appearance in the rankings.

• Northwestern last opened its season at home in 2007 with a trio of games against Central Michigan, Maryland and Northeastern, going 2-1 in that stretch. NU's 2-1 victory against the Huskies on Aug. 31 also marks the last overtime win for Northwestern.

• Two returning members of Northwestern's squad gained invaluable experience playing with the NCAA's top athletes this summer. Seniors Courtney Plaster-Strange and Stacy Uchida were both selected to the USA Field Hockey Midwest Region High Performance training team, a group for which NU associate head coach Carla Tagliente served as an assistant coach. Plaster-Strange scored two goals for the Midwest in the USA Field Hockey National Championship in Virginia Beach, Va., helping the Midwest to a fourth-place finish.

• For the first time in three years, NU features a new starting goalkeeper in the cage following the graduation of Emily Kyle. Junior Katie Lynch boasts plenty of game experience and is looking to make a splash as a starter, while true freshman Amanda Wirth seems poised to battle for playing time right from the start.

• First-year associate head coach Carla Tagliente should be able to provide the 'Cats some insight into their third opponent this weekend, defending NCAA champion and preseason No. 1-ranked Maryland. While playing for the Terps from 1997-2000, Tagliente was a three-time All-American and two-time finalist for the Honda Broderick Award, helping UMD to the 1999 NCAA championship. She also continues to hold Maryland school records for career goals (87) and points (187).