Oct. 30, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill.-- Northwestern begins the 2007 Big Ten Tournament at 9 a.m. CT, on Thursday, against the second-seeded Michigan State Spartans.
The Wildcats wrapped up the regular season with a pair of road games against Iowa and Indiana, which ended in close losses. With the momentum gained, NU seeks its first postseason victory since 1995 and 1996 when it defeated the Spartans 4-3 and 1-0 in the first round of the tournament.
Earlier in the season, Northwestern dropped its game to Michigan State, which was aired live on the Big Ten Network. The game was the first-ever nationally televised field hockey game.
Quoting Coach McCollum...
"Our team is excited about the Big Ten tournament and our first round game against Michigan State. We are a much different team than we were at the start of the Big Ten season and our squad is playing a higher level of field hockey all over the field. We have taken great strides in our Big Ten games to date and are prepared to continue moving forward in the tournament."
Scouting Michigan State...
Michigan State finished the year 15-4, 5-1 in conference play. Jantine Steinmetz and Becky Manning led the Spartans and the Big Ten Conference in goals with 13 a piece during the regular season. Jeamie Deacon finished just one behind and in fourth in the conference with 12, while Floor Rijpma scored on 10 shots. Goalkeeper Elissa Unger compiled 59 saves, a 14-3 record and six shutouts. The Spartans were nearly unbeatable at home, finishing with an 8-1 record, its lone loss coming in overtime against the Big Ten conference champion, Michigan Wolverines. Two of MSU's other losses came against No. 3 Wake Forest and No. 4 Connecticut.
Game Notes
The series...
Northwestern leads Michigan State 32-16 all-time in a series that dates back to 1977. The two have split the last two meetings with NU winning a 3-2 overtime game last year at Lakeside Field, then dropping a 4-0 contest this year at MSU. In the last 11 years, the score has ended up 3-2 on five separate occasions, with four of those contests going to an overtime period. The Wildcats have won three of the 3-2 contests.
Last two meetings...
Against the Spartans in 2006, junior
Jill Putnam (Greenfield, Mass./Greenfield) scored two goals, including the overtime winner. Senior
Katie Charles (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) put the other tally on the board for the 'Cats. This season, the Wildcats fired four shots at the Spartans and junior
Emily Kyle (San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco University H.S.) made four saves.
Common opponents...
Northwestern and Michigan State shared two common non-conference opponents this season in Kent State and Central Michigan. NU defeated Central Michigan 4-2 on the strength of a hat trick by Alex Quinn (Watertown, Mass./Watertown), while the Spartans fell 3-2 on the road. Against Kent State, NU dropped the 4-1 contest, with the lone goal coming on a shot by Alison Bullock (Boyds, Md./Stone Ridge), while MSU won 5-1.
• Both of Northwestern's last two postseason victories came against Michigan State. In 1995, NU defeated MSU 4-3 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and followed that up with a repeat performance in 1996, winning 1-0.
The points leader...
Quinn led the Wildcats in scoring this year with 17 points on six goals and five assists. She was followed by Bullock and Plaster-Strange, who had 12 each. Bullock scored six goals, while Plaster-Strange scored five goals and had two assists.
Senior leadership...
Senior Amanda Care (Newtown, Pa./Pennsbury) scored one goal in three years before the start of the 2007 season. This year, she scored three goals. Her first of the season and first since her freshman year was an overtime-winner against Northeastern. The other two came on penalty strokes, where she finished 2-2.
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