For the third time in two weeks, the Northwestern field hockey team has had a game canceled because of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Citing travel restrictions, Stanford decided on Tuesday to call off Sunday’s match with the Wildcats (1-5, 0-1 Big Ten) at Lakeside Field.

“I’m sad (about the cancellation),” NU head coach Marisa Didio said. “But I understand the circumstances, so I have to temper how I feel about it a bit.

“What I’m sad about is that our program works so hard to get a high-quality schedule, and the kids only have so much time in a college career.”

Forward Stacy Spenser, whose brother was a swimmer at Stanford, thinks missing Sunday’s game could affect the team’s development.

“I was really excited to play them,” she said. “Each game we improve, and now we’re down one more game on the other teams in the Big Ten.”

To make up for the missed game, Didio has recently held more intensive practices.

“We’ve taken the fullest advantage to somehow gain with the loss of those games,” she said. “We’ve tried to have the most competitive environment we could in substitution (for the lost matches).”

NU’s game on Friday against No. 9 Ohio State (6-1, 2-0) will still be played in Evanston. The Ohio State-Stanford contest, scheduled for Saturday in Evanston, has also been called off.

EMPTY NET: Didio said Wednesday that no decision has been made on a starting goalkeeper for NU’s match against Ohio State on Friday.

In last Saturday’s contest at Michigan State (6-3, 1-0), junior Kendra Mesa was in the cage for 45 minutes, allowing four goals. Sophomore Katie Hall saw 19 minutes of action, allowing another Spartans tally.

“We’re still in a position where they’re competing for that (spot),” Didio said. “It’ll take all three practices (this week) to determine that.”

Didio and her staff evaluated each netminder after Saturday’s game. They’ll choose Friday’s starter based on each player’s performance in games and during this week’s practice.

Didio did not indicate a favorite in the race.

SMITH STILL SIDELINED: Senior Nicole Smith, NU’s leading scorer in 2000, will miss the Ohio State game because of lingering effects of a concussion suffered Sept. 9 against James Madison.

Smith, second on the Cats with two goals this year, has been practicing this week.

“She’s still non-contact (during practice),” Didio said. “She’s still having symptoms. She still gets dizzy in certain environments. Those (symptoms) have to be gone for her to play.”

Other than Smith, the rest of the team is healthy and available, a fact that pleases the coach.

“It’s attributable to our conditioning,” Didio said. “We’re not seeing the game results, but I don’t think the kids realize that we wouldn’t have played top competition and stayed healthy if we weren’t fit.”

RANKINGS UPDATE: The national collegiate field hockey rankings released Tuesday show five of the seven Big Ten schools that play the sport ranked in the top 16.

No. 4 Michigan, No. 6 Michigan State and No. 9 Ohio State are all among the nation’s top 10, with Penn State and Iowa ranked 15th and 16th, respectively.

“To have five out of seven teams ranked … that’s really something,” Didio said.

“The ACC is probably the strongest conference. The Big Ten is probably the next strongest nationally.”

On Sept. 7, NU suffered a 4-0 loss to the ACC’s Maryland, currently the nation’s top-ranked team.

NU and Indiana are the Big Ten’s only unranked teams.

“There are five top-tier teams,” Didio said. “Right now we’re in the bottom tier, and we’re trying to get out.”

ON THE PRACTICE FIELD: After two very competitive sessions, Didio plans to ease up in today’s practice.

“We’ve had two really hard developmental days,” Didio said. “We’ll lighten up a bit (today).

“(The players) have kept their heads on straight and worked hard with a mindset to attain our goals. They’ve stuck with their values, which is really important to me.”