Everyone loves a good road trip. Some good tunes, gas station grub, maybe even a little permanent marker on a snoozing buddy’s face. Sounds like fun, right?

Forget all that.

When the Northwestern field hockey team heads to Bloomington, Ind., this weekend to face Indiana and California, a pair of wins is the only kind of fun they’re looking for. The Wildcats will open up today at 3 p.m. against the Hoosiers. Both teams are in search of their first Big Ten win.

“We know we’re a better team than them,” junior Candice Cooper said. “It’s just a matter of us going out their and playing like we can.”

But all signs point to Indiana being the surprise team of the Big Ten this year. The Hoosiers, traditionally the Big Ten doormat, have put together an impressive season so far.

Their overall record of 7-4 has already surpassed last season’s 6-13 campaign. Indiana also gave the same highly ranked Penn State team that shut out NU last week 3-0 a tough 2-1 game. NU is the only team in the Big Ten below .500 at 5-7.

“They’ve shown some improvement and they’re going to come out just as fired up as us,” Cooper said. “We need to put them in their place quick.”

Sophomore Holly Palin said that the Cats’ penalty corner team has been putting in some overtime during practice to try and fine-tune that part of their game. The corner team has had a total of 23 opportunities in Big Ten play, but have yet to score a goal.

Along with an improved Indiana squad, NU will face a couple of disruptions in their normal routine this weekend. For one, Indiana features an indoor stadium, which sports a hostile, closed environment.

“All the fans are going to be right up against the sidelines, talking stuff,” Palin said. “Everyone’s kind of right up there in your face like a basketball game. It’s going to be really exciting.”

Another break in the routine is that after today’s game, the Cats won’t get the chance to rest their legs like past weekends. The traditional double-dip weekend has an off-day on Saturday, but NU will have California to deal with at 2 p.m. tomorrow. This will be the first time during the season that the Cats play back-to-back games.

“It’s definitely going to be a little tougher, but we’re really looking forward to the challenge,” Palin said.

This weekend marks the third consecutive road trip for the Cats, but it will be their last before heading back to Evanston to close out the regular season.

“From the get-go, we need to come up big and finish,” Cooper said.