'Cats to Take on Terps in Big Ten Tournament Championship

Sunday, November 5

Ann Arbor, Mich.

11 a.m. CT

Northwestern

#3 Maryland

'Cats to Take on Terps in Big Ten Tournament Championship

11/4/2023 3:09:00 PM | Field Hockey

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — No. 1 Northwestern field hockey (one-seed) will take on No. 8 Maryland (three-seed) in the Big Ten Tournament Championship on Sunday as they search for their first-ever sweep of conference titles. Action from Ann Arbor begins at 11 a.m. CT.

Storylines

Northwestern was crowned outright Big Ten regular season champion for the first time since 1994 last week after finishing with a perfect 8-0 B1G record - an undefeated conference season for the first time since 1988.
The 'Cats enter Sunday's action on a program-record 17-game winning streak. Their defeat of Rutgers on Oct. 22 was their 15th straight and broke the previous record of 14 wins in a row, which was set in 1985. Northwestern's last loss to a Big Ten opponent came in the semifinals of last year's conference tournament, when they fell 2-1 to Michigan on Nov. 6, almost exactly one year ago.
The Wildcats' defense has been the best in the NCAA this season, and they'll enter the Championship with a nation-leading ten goals allowed all season. Goalkeeper Annabel Skubisz and the Northwestern defense own a 0.54 goals-against-average, and Skubisz has saved over 86 percent of shots on goal; Both stats rank first in the nation.
Skubisz has already shut out a career-high 11 opponents this season, which ties for second most in Northwestern single-season history. Her 21 career shutouts are now third all-time among Northwestern goalkeepers, while her 309 career saves entering today's action are sixth all-time. En route to her 11 shutouts, Skubisz led the defense to one five-game and one six- game shutout streak, the latter of which tied the program record for consecutive scoreless performances.
The Wildcats brought home a huge haul of Big Ten postseason honors on Wednesday, headlined by unanimous Coach of the Year selection for Tracey Fuchs, supported by Will Byrne and Georgia Holland. Annabel Skubisz won the inaugural Goalkeeper of the Year award, and the rest of the squad brought home seven All-Conference selections, a program record. For Fuchs, the award was the second of her career after she also earned distinction in 2013. All four of Northwestern's captains earned first team All-Big Ten honors, including a unanimous selection for senior Lauren Wadas. Along with Wadas and co-captains Skubisz, Alia Marshall and Peyton Halsey, first year Olivia Bent-Cole made the conference first team in her inaugural campaign. The five first team selections were the most by any Big Ten team this season.

Matchup Information

The Wildcats and the Terrapins will face off for the second time in less than two weeks after Northwestern beat Maryland 5-1 at Lakeside Field last Thursday in their regular season finale. The victory brought Northwestern to 15-19-0 against the Terrapins all-time.
The 'Cats faced Maryland twice in the postseason last year - once in the Big Ten Tournament and once in the NCAA Final Four - and came away with victories in both games.