Michael Griffin

The Daily Northwestern

Momentum is a funny thing. It can be your best friend or your worst enemy.

Thankfully, the Northwestern field hockey team heads into Penn State (10-3, 1-1) this weekend with “mo” on its side, after coming off a shut out victory over Stanford.

Penn State, on the other hand, is coming off a crushing 3-2 loss to No. 2 North Carolina.

The Wildcats will try to build on their momentum and get their first Big Ten win when they square off against the Lady Lions at noon Sunday.

“We’re hungry for a Big Ten win,” senior Suzi Sutton said.

Getting on the attack early, along with flooding Penn State’s side of the field with offensive pressure was stressed in practice this week.

“It’s important to put pressure on them so we can force their mistakes and get some goals,” sophomore Holly Palin said. “We need to focus on coming out strong right from the start and getting on the board first.”

Penn State, ranked No. 8 nationally, is another in a long line of ranked opponents that the Cats have faced this year.

But an upset of a top-20 team would not be unfamiliar territory to the NU, who fought back to beat now-No. 15 Boston College in the first game of the season.

NU seems poised to get its second major upset of the season with an offense that woke up and made a statement last weekend against Stanford and a consistently suffocating defense.

“Coming off a game where we played really well, we need to keep the ball rolling and continue to be attack-oriented,” Palin said. “We need to get more shots, and more penalty corners.”

The Cats’ defense will have their hands full with Penn State’s explosive scoring offense, which ranks second in the Big Ten at 43 goals on the season. Penn State is also atop the Big Ten in shots taken with 232. That is more than double NU’s season total of 102.

Sutton said the Lady Lions’ offense can score with a long pass or methodically move the ball toward the goal.

“They’re really well-balanced,” Sutton said. “Sometimes they’ll play a big ball for a kill shot and sometimes they’ll work it down the field with great stick work.”

Even with Penn State’s blistering offense, NU couldn’t ask for a much better last line of defense in freshman goal-keeper Sherri-Anne Nyberg. After getting her first shut out of the season, Nyberg stands alone at the top of the Big Ten in saves per game with 7.11.

Sutton, a Pennsylvania native, can’t wait to go back home and show the Nittany Lions how it’s done.

“It’s exciting to get the chance to go home and play in front of some people I know,” Sutton said. “We need to spring off our last game against Stanford and string together some wins, starting with Penn State.”

After the final whistle blows Sunday afternoon, the team will fly back home, hoping “mo” will be headed back with them.