Oct. 30, 2008
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern closes out its regular season schedule on Senior Day at Lakeside Field looking to capture its first conference win of the year against Indiana. Five Wildcat seniors -- Annie Bosslet, Alison Bullock, Emily Kyle, Jill Putnam and Alexandra Quinn -- will be recognized on the field before the game.
ON THE AIR
Saturday's game is being aired on tape delay by the Big Ten Network at 10 a.m. CT on Sunday. Leah Secondo (play-by-play) and Kara Lentz (analyst) are calling the action from Lakeside Field. Fans outside the broadcast region of the Big Ten Network can follow the play-by-play stats with Gametracker.
SCOUTING THE HOOSIERS
Saturday's contest marks the conclusion of an up-and-down regular season for the Hoosiers in which they struggled at times but also played well in one-goal losses to two top-10 teams, Wake Forest and Penn State. IU has posted a 2-2 mark in overtime contests this year. On Wednesday, Indiana (7-9, 1-4) traveled to No. 12 Louisville where they fell by a 2-1 margin. Indiana is led on attack by junior Meg O'Connell, who has 16 points (7 G, 2 A), and classmate Haley Funk (5 G, 2 A). In goal is sophomore Alex Mann, a transfer from Wake Forest, who has posted a 2.12 goals against average and 71 saves.
SERIES RECORDS
Indiana, whose first year in Division I field hockey was 2000, has won the last four meetings in the series, but Northwestern maintains a 5-4 all-time edge against the Hoosiers. In last year's regular season finale, Indiana claimed a 2-1 win in Bloomington.
LOUISVILLE SLUGGER
Last time out for the 'Cats, Louisville native Courtney Plaster-Strange scored twice against her hometown school to bring Northwestern (6-12, 0-5) to the brink of an upset against then-No. 11 Louisville. It was the first multi-goal game of the season for Plaster-Strange and third of her career. NU led, 3-2, with under eight minutes remaining, but U of L rallied to knot the score in the 67th minute and eventually won the game in overtime, 4-3. Kyle tied a season-high with 12 saves in the face of 34 overall shots by Louisville.
A QUINN-TESSENTIAL 'CAT
With 28 points (12 G, 4 A) this year, Alexandra Quinn is now tied for 17th in NU history with 69 career points. Earlier this year, Quinn enjoyed a stretch with 10 goals over seven games (9/5-9/21).
KYLE CLIMBS THE CHARTS
Emily Kyle has spent her third full season in the cage for NU cementing her place among the school's all-time best goalkeepers. Her 384 career saves entering Saturday leave her just two saves shy of Kim Metcalf (1986-89) for fourth on the all-time list. Meanwhile, her Big Ten-leading 123 saves in 2008, which match her career high, are also just two short of cracking the list of the top-10 most prolific seasons by a Wildcat goalie. The San Francisco native also posted the first two shutouts of her career in her senior campaign (at Georgetown, vs. Robert Morris).