‘Cats Prepare For Top-10 Showdowns Against No. 6 Iowa, at No. 10 Princeton

EVANSTON, Ill. - The No. 1 Northwestern field hockey team has two top-10 matchups this upcoming weekend, hosting No. 6 Iowa on Friday and traveling to meet No. 10 Princeton on Sunday morning.

On Friday, Oct. 9, the Wildcats (12-0, 3-0 Big Ten) will host long-time Big Ten rival and No. 6 Iowa (11-1, 3-1 Big Ten) in a rematch of the 2025 Big Ten Tournament Championship game. Then, they will travel to New Jersey to play No. 10 Princeton (6-4, 2-1 Ivy League) in a rematch of the 2025 NCAA Championship game. The Tigers are also the last team to defeat the Wildcats, doing so at Lakeside Field on Oct. 13, 2025.

Friday’s match will take place at 3 p.m. CT and be televised on Big Ten Network. Admission is free at Lakeside Field for all fans. Sunday’s game is at 11 a.m. and will be on ESPN+. 

Scouting the Hawkeyes
Northwestern has faced Iowa more times than any other team, in a rivalry that dates back to 1980. The Wildcats posted a 34-54-4 record against the Hawkeyes in 92 total matchups, but have won the last five.

In 2025, Northwestern beat Iowa twice. It first claimed a 2-1 win in Iowa City on Oct. 3, and then pulled off a 3-0 shutout just over a month later in the Big Ten Tournament Championship. 

The last time the ‘Cats played the Hawkeyes at home was on Sept. 20, 2024, when NU won 5-0. The game was Northwestern forward Ashley Sessa’s first multi-goal game as a Wildcat, which included a goal that made the SportsCenter Top-10.

This season, the Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in goals per game (3.75), led by conference scoring leaders Frederique van Cleef (1.33)  and Dionne van Aalsum (1.17), who rank second and third nationally in the same stat category. Van Aalsum (3.25) and Sessa (2.70) also rank first and second, respectively, in the Big Ten for points per game. 

Iowa has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Poll this season, with top-10 wins over No. 8 Wake Forest and No. 9 North Carolina. Its only loss this season was a 3-1 to Indiana, which it beat two days later in a shootout.

Scouting the Tigers
In the 2025 NCAA Championship game, Northwestern overcame a 2-1 deficit to defeat Princeton, off the back of an Ilse Tromp double-overtime goal. That win avenged the ‘Cats' 3-2 defeat against Princeton a month prior at Lakeside Field.

This year’s Princeton team is operating without Beth Yeager, the U.S. Olympian and midfielder who led the Tigers in points and goals in 2025. Yeager scored goals in both of Princeton’s contests against Northwestern last season. It is junior forward Pru Lindsey who leads the Tigers in scoring this year, with four goals and an assist.

The Tigers' four losses in 2026 all came to top-10 opponents — No. 9 North Carolina, No. 4 Connecticut, No. 7 Harvard and No. 2 Maryland — in penalty shootouts. They are currently chasing their first win over a currently ranked team this season.

Northwestern holds a 4-2 overall record against Princeton. The last time the two teams faced off in New Jersey, in 2024, the Wildcats won 3-2.

Northwestern Players to Watch
Ashley Sessa is coming off earning both conference and national honors, as she was selected for Big Ten and NFHCA Offensive Player of the Week awards this week. This comes after she scored nine points (four goals, one assist) across contests against Ohio State and Michigan last weekend.

Junior forward Nadia Nemeth has emerged as a Northwestern contributor after her two-goal showing against Ohio State, the first multi-game goal of her career. After scoring her first goal since October 2024 on Sept. 25 against Michigan State, she has now doubled her career tally from two to four goals in just two weeks of play.

Though neither player scored this past weekend, both fifth-year Aerin Krys and junior Laura Salamanca have been standouts in terms of setting up opportunities. Krys led the Wildcats with three assists across two games against OSU and Michigan, while Salamanca had an assist in each game.

NFHCA Week Six Ranking: No. 1. For the seventh consecutive week, Northwestern is the unanimous No. 1 team in the NFHCA Division I National Coaches Poll, receiving all 11 first-place votes. At 12-0, the ‘Cats are one of two undefeated teams in the top-20, alongside No. 2 Maryland (11-0).