In many ways, an entire season comes down to this. A year of disappointment for the Northwestern field hockey team (2-11, 1-5 Big Ten) can be erased by one victory over No. 5 Michigan (13-4, 4-2) in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament today.

“(A win) would be great,” sophomore forward Katie Walshauser said. “It’s what we’ve been working for all year. To be a top-four team, it’s our motto.”

A win today would make the Wildcats one of four teams in the championship’s semifinals.

The Cats and Wolverines are familiar foes — Michigan defeated NU 2-0 last Saturday in each team’s final regular season game.

NU head coach Marisa Didio has her team looking for a different result this afternoon.

“In conference tournaments, the expected is going to happen, and the unexpected is going to happen,” Didio said. “Our mentality is to play upset hockey.”

For NU defender Juli Fomenko, the attitude is simple: “Nothing to lose,” she said. “You’ve got to play like it’s a national championship game. You’ve got to take every play on the ball like it is you’re last play on the ball.”

While the Cats haven’t won since Oct. 5, Didio has noticed improvement since then. The fact that their best play of the season came last week against Michigan is reason for optimism. The teams were scoreless for 50 minutes before Michigan’s Kristi Gannon broke through.

“There were multiple minutes that we were a pretty good team and that gives us a little boost of confidence,” Didio said. “I feel we had Michigan worried.”

Perhaps more importantly, the prospect of playing a top-caliber opponent doesn’t worry the Cats.

“Before we played them, we were prepared for their style,” Fomenko said. “But now we’ve looked at that video, and we’ve corrected the trouble spots and we know what to expect.”

Last weekend’s match was a rough one, with officials stopping play several times. Didio expects nothing different today.

“When you get into a tournament atmosphere people are fighting for their lives,” she said. “A lot will ride on this weekend. There aren’t going to be too many inches on the turf that aren’t going to be fought over.”

The main problem the Cats had in their loss to the Wolverines was generating attempts on net. NU mustered only two shots to Michigan’s nine.

“We need to make more opportunities on the attack and get a few more corners and then execute,” Walshauser said.

“A lot of times we had chances on offense, but they were two-on-three or one-on-two situations. It’s a matter of keeping it up there, keep pressuring them, keep getting shots off, rather than getting one shot and allowing a 25-yard (clearing) hit.”

For the Cats’ defense, the challenge today is to keep the Wolverines from earning penalty corners. Both of Michigan’s goals last weekend came from such situations.

“They are very fast,” Fomenko said of the Wolverines’ attackers. “They have lots of skill. It’s a matter of us not letting them get those corners.”

The goaltender — the anchor of the any defense — has been a question mark for NU throughout the season. Junior Kendra Mesa was basically relegated to the bench during the Big Ten season, but she replaced sophomore Katie Hall after Hall allowed three first-half goals on Oct. 24 against Iowa. Mesa started last weekend against Michigan.

“We have extreme confidence in Kendra and Katie,” Fomenko said. “Whoever is in goal definitely worked their tail off this week, and they’re ready for a shutout.”

For Didio, the key to generating the “upset enthusiasm” necessary to pull out a victory today is getting her players to understand the magnitude of what they’re playing for — and where they’re playing for it.

“I want for them to recognize how special this weekend is,” Didio said. “In their careers they’ll only see four championships, and probably none of these kids will see the tournament at home.”

Walshauser concurred: “To be at home, to be by the lake, you can’t ask for anything more.”

Well, maybe a little more.

“If — when we beat Michigan, that’s going to set the tone for the rest of the tournament,” Fomenko said. “It would be tremendous. It would be huge. It would be a great cap to a long, hard season.

“Whatever happens, it’ll be earned. We’re just going to play our best 70 minutes of hockey.”