With just one day to prepare, the Northwestern field hockey team hosts No. 5 Michigan Saturday afternoon at Lakeside Field.

After losing, 3-1, at No. 16 Iowa Wednesday, NU took an NCAA-mandated day off Thursday. The Wildcats (2-11, 1-4 Big Ten) return to the practice field today.

“It doesn’t change our preparation,” head coach Marisa Didio said. “I’m going to push hard and challenge them. We’re going to keep working.”

Junior goaltender Kendra Mesa will start against Michigan (12-4, 3-2). She held Iowa scoreless in the second half after starter Katie Hall allowed three goals and made no saves before getting pulled. Hall had started every Big Ten game for NU after Mesa was in the cage for much of the nonconference schedule.

“It puts us in a position of confusion,” Didio said of Hall’s struggles, “but that’s what it’s been all year.

“(Kendra) did her job. (Starting her) is a pretty easy decision at this point.”

The Wildcats will be playing their second straight match without midfielder Stacy Spenser, who is out for the season with recurring stress fractures in her legs. After struggling to adjust to a revamped starting lineup in the first half, Didio said NU played its best hockey of the season after the break on Wednesday.

“The second half was exactly where we need to be,” Didio said. “I’ve gotta make sure the athletes understand what they did.

“The main thing for them to see is that when they take an assertive and aggressive stance things start to work.”

Freshman midfielder Candice Cooper, who scored her first career goal during Wednesday’s second half, agreed.

“We can’t have those five minutes where we go through the motions,” Cooper said. “That’s when they get their goals. We need to go 100 percent for all 70 minutes.”

Michigan has lost its last two conference games, but still has an outside shot at a share of the conference championship. NU is currently in sixth place in the seven-team Big Ten.

“This will be quite an interesting match,” Didio said. “It will only assist us to see our strengths and weaknesses.

“After the match, we’ll know if we can count on moving forward, because Michigan’s quite a strong side.”