No. 16 Northwestern Hosts No. 14 Michigan, Michigan State

NORTHWESTERN FIELD HOCKEY: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Friday, Oct. 16	No. 14 Michigan	3 p.m.	Lakeside Field (Evanston, Ill.)	N/A	SIDEARM
Sunday, Oct. 18	Michigan State	Noon	Lakeside Field (Evanston, Ill.)	N/A	SIDEARM
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 16 Northwestern hits the home strech of its 2015 regular season as the Wildcats host No. 14 Michigan at 3 p.m. Friday and Michigan State at noon Sunday at Lakeside Field.

Following this weekend's contests, the Wildcats will have just three regular-season matches remaining, including two against Big Ten foes.

The first 100 Northwestern students attending Friday's contest will receive a free t-shirt and a free burrito courtesy of Chipotle. Sunday's game will have a reunion of the Wildcats' 1994 NCAA semifinalist squad as the team will be recognized at halftime. Sunday is also Windy City Field Hockey Day as all club members will be invited to stand with the Wildcats on the field during starting lineups and the National Anthem. There also will be a postgame autograph session with the Northwestern players.

The 'Cats (9-5, 2-2 B1G) endured another contest in which they out-shot an opponent but came up on the short end of the final result last Friday. Northwestern finished with a 15-9 advantage in shots but suffered a 3-2 overtime defeat to then-No. 9 Stanford. It marked the third time this season that the Wildcats out-shot a ranked opponent but couldn't come away with a victory. Isabel Flens' second goal of the game came with 3:35 remaining in regulation to tie the score, but the Cardinal got the game-winner 2:17 into the first extra session.

Flens continues to have an outstanding junior season. Her 13 goals lead the team, while ranking second in the Big Ten and fifth in the nation. Dominique Masters has contributed nine goals to Northwestern's balanced attack while Eva van Agt and Caroline Troncelliti have chipped in with eight apiece.

Friday's matchup will be a battle of the Big Ten's top offense and the conference's top defense. Northwestern leads the league with an average of 3.50 goals per game while Michigan is first in the Big Ten and fourth nationally with a 0.86 goals-against average.

Scouting Michigan
The Wolverines (11-3, 4-1) head back to Evanston for the second straight weekend after earning a narrow 1-0 win over Stanford at Lakeside Field on Sunday. Shannon Scavelli scored the lone goal of the match and leads Michigan with eight goals this season. Sam Swenson has been stellar in goal for the Wolverines as she sports a miniscule 0.81 goals-against average with an .820 save percentage. Michigan enters play this weekend one game behind Maryland for the top spot in the Big Ten standings. Northwestern and Michigan split a pair of meetings last season with the host Wolverines winning the regular-season meeting, 2-1, before the Wildcats won 2-1 in overtime in Ann Arbor in the Big Ten tournament.

Scouting Michigan State
The Spartans (5-9, 2-3) have split their last four contests after starting the season with seven losses in their first 10 matches. Michigan State is coming off a 4-1 loss at Ohio on Sunday. Sophie Macadre is the team's leader with seven goals while Megan Fenton has added six. Sierra Patton has seen the majority of time in goal and has a 2.84 goals-against average with a .634 save percentage. The Spartans play at Iowa on Friday prior to facing Northwestern. The Wildcats won last year's meeting 5-2 in East Lansing and have won the last four matchups overall between the squads.

No. 16 Northwestern Hosts No. 14 Michigan, Michigan State

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Players Mentioned

Isabel Flens

Dominique Masters

Caroline Troncelliti

Eva van Agt

Northwestern University Athletics