May 4, 2006
Northwestern's Game Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- The conference season is entering its final weekend, and No. 13 Northwestern's series at Illinois has championship implications.
With one win in the Wildcats' two-game set against the Illini this weekend, Northwestern will capture the program's fifth Big Ten title and its first since 1987. The two teams square off at 6 p.m. Saturday evening before concluding the series at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Officially, NU's magic number to clinch the crown is just one over second-place Michigan, meaning any combination of a single Wildcat win or a Wolverine loss would give Northwestern the title. Michigan takes on Michigan State this weekend, with the first game scheduled for noon CT Saturday. Should the Spartans win that game, the Wildcats' will have won the Big Ten before even playing on Saturday.
Northwestern entered the final weekend of last season with a very similar scenario. As the first-place team, the Wildcats needed to win one game in a two-game set against the second-place Wolverines, but eventual-national champion Michigan came out on top.
The Wildcats jumped to No. 12 in this week's ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No. 13 in the USA Today/NFCA coaches poll. The No. 12 rating is the highest NU has ever been in the USA Softball rankings, and matches the program's best in the NFCA poll.
Junior Eileen Canney (Paradise, Calif./Paradise) earned Northwestern's second National Player of the Week honor of the season on Wednesday after posting a 3-0 record to push the Wildcats to the brink of clinching the title. Canney has been unbelievable of late, compiling five shutouts and a 0.29 ERA with 107 strikeouts in her last 10 appearances.
Winning the Big Ten title would make Northwestern the host of the conference tournament to be played May 11-13. The Wildcats never have hosted the event.
For Northwestern's complete game notes package including updated season and career statistics, click on the .pdf link at the top of this page.
The Broadcasts!
NUsports.com ALL-ACCESS
Both of Northwestern's games this weekend will be streamed live on NUsports.com's All-Access. The audio stream will feature WNUR veteran Dan Platt on play-by-play and NU SID Doug Meffley in his broadcast debut.
All-Access is a premium service on NUsports.com featuring live audio and video of many Northwestern sports. The package also contains interviews, highlights and features. To sign up for All-Access, navigate to the audio/video page on NUsports.com.
Gametracker
Gametracker is available for both games this weekend.