Nov. 6, 2003

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It all comes down to this. After months of preparation in the offseason and a 17-match regular season, the fate of the 2003 Northwestern Wildcats comes down one final weekend in University Park, Pa., where the 'Cats face Ohio State Friday at 3 p.m. in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

NU finished the Big Ten slate in sixth-place with a 1-5 mark, ahead of last-place Indiana. Ohio State, who beat NU 1-0 in overtime, claimed the third seed.

The 'Cats head into the rematch against the Buckeyes with good reason to be optimistic.

First, NU comes into the match with back-to-back shutouts against Saint Louis and Syracuse and is arguably playing its best field hockey of the season. The backfield foursome of Suzi Sutton, Morgan Kuhn and sisters Diane and Kristin Provencher has been suffocating and has done an excellent job keeping opponents away from freshman goalkeeper Sherri-Anne Nyberg.

They were dominant in the last two wins, holding the Orangewomen without a single shot in the 2-0 contest. Offensively, the 'Cats have been on fire as well. The seven goals they scored against Saint Louis were the most any NU team has posted since 2000 when they stomped Indiana 7-0.

Christine Nannicelli racked up seven points in the weekend sweep, scoring three goals and adding an assist.

The regular season meeting between the Wildcats and Ohio State came down to the wire. The Buckeyes' Vannessa Immorodino scored on a penalty stroke in overtime following a questionable call inside the NU circle and OSU escaped with the 1-0 victory.

The Ohio State/Northwestern winner will face the winner of the Indiana/Michigan State match on Saturday in the second round. Michigan, who won the regular season championship, is the only team with a first-round bye.