No. 10 Northwestern Opens 2015 Season at Home

No. 10 Northwestern Opens 2015 Season at Home

8/27/2015 5:49:00 PM | Field Hockey

Wildcats take on UConn and Northeastern

By: Nick Brilowski

NORTHWESTERN FIELD HOCKEY: GAME DAY INFORMATION
DATE	OPPONENT	TIME	LOCATION	BROADCAST	LIVE STATS
Friday, Aug. 28	No. 1 UConn	1 p.m.	Lakeside Field (Evanston, Ill.)	N/A	SIDEARM
Sunday, Aug. 30	Northeastern	1 p.m.	Lakeside Field (Evanston, Ill.)	N/A	SIDEARM
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EVANSTON, Ill. – Two-time defending Big Ten champion Northwestern opens its 2015 season as home this weekend as faces No. 1 Connecticut on Friday and Northeastern on Sunday at Lakeside Field.

Both matches are set to start at 1 p.m. For Friday's match, parking is available in the garage adjacent to Henry Crown Sports Pavilion. Prior to entering the garage, a parking pass must be purchased from the pay box located across the road from the main entrance to the pavilion on the south side of the building near the ATM.

The Wildcats are ranked No. 10 in the 2015 Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Preseason Poll. NU returns 17 letterwinners from last year's team that went 16-7 overall, won the Big Ten tournament title and earned an NCAA tournament berth.

Northwestern is led by senior back Lisa McCarthy and senior midfielders Charlotte Martin and Caroline Troncelliti, all of whom were named Players to Watch by the Big Ten Conference. McCarthy was a second-team All-America selection and joined Martin as a first-team All-West Region pick a year ago. Junior Dominique Masters is also a returning award-winner, as she also was named to the All-West Region first team.

Masters is the team's leading returning scorer after posting team bests of 15 goals and 38 points in 2014. Martin paced the squad with 17 points while McCarthy added 14 helpers to go along with 7 goals. Junior forward Isabel Flens (12) and Troncelliti (11) were also double-digit goal scorers last season.

The Wildcats will have to replace first-team All-Big Ten goalkeeper Maddy Carpenter following her graduation. Redshirt sophomore Lindsay von der Luft is slated to get the nod in goal. She saw limited game time a year ago, appearing in two matches while allowing only one goal and making eight saves.

Northwestern has been dominant at home recently, posting a record of 22-1 over their last 23 home matches at Lakeside Field dating back to the 2011 season. The facility received a new playing surface in the off-season. This weekend's home matches will be the first of 10 for the Wildcats in Evanston this season.

Head coach Tracey Fuchs enters her seventh season at the helm of the Wildcats, having posted an 82-42 over her first six campaigns. In addition to last year's Big Ten tournament title, Fuchs guided to the Wildcats. She was a standout at UConn in the early 1980s.

Friday's contest will be a homecoming for UConn head coach Nancy Stevens. From 1981-89, Stevens served as Northwestern's head coach. In her nine seasons at the helm of the Wildcats, she posted a 152-35-12 record while leading NU to four Big Ten titles and eight NCAA tournament appearances, including three national semifinal round appearances.

Scouting Connecticut
The Huskies have won each of the last two national championships under former Northwestern head coach Nancy Stevens. Roisin Upton was named Big East Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and tabbed as a Preseason All-Big East Team member. Charlotte Veitner was named as the league's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. The duo were joined on the Preseason All-Big East team by Olivia Bolles and Anna Middendorf. UConn has won the only two previous meetings with Northwestern. The first matchup came in the 1983 NCAA Tournament semifinal round while the other came last season in Storrs when the Huskies outlasted NU 3-2 in overtime.

Scouting Northeastern
The Huskies posted a 14-5 record last season and earned the school's first Coloniel Athletic Association regular season title. Northeastern picked to finish third in the CAA this season behind Delaware and James Madison. Junior goalkeeper Becky Garner and junior midfielder Natalie Steward are preseason All-CAA selections, while senior forward Vanessa Pryor earned preseason honorable mention honors. Northwestern hold an 8-6-1 series lead against Northeastern. The last meeting was a 4-2 win for the Wildcats on Sept. 1, 2013.