Let’s kick the tires and light the fires. It’s Big Ten tournament time for the Northwestern field hockey team.

The No. 6 seed Wildcats are set to take on No. 3 seed Ohio State today at 3 p.m. at Bigler Field in University Park, Pa.

Given the Buckeyes’ No. 15 national ranking, NU is most certainly the underdog on paper. But playoffs mark a fresh start for everybody since regular-season accomplishments are thrown out the window.

And, aside from scissor-kicks and fist-o-furies, pretty much anything is fair game in the playoffs. That’s where NU comes in. The Cats are a scrappy team riding a wave of momentum coming into the tournament. NU has won five out of its final seven regular-season games.

During the last two games of the regular season, the Cats looked like nothing short of a championship team. NU’s offense, which all season long has been like an oily rag waiting for the proper spark to catch fire, burnt Saint Louis 7-0.

The defensive backfield of Suzi Sutton, Morgan Kuhn and sisters Diane and Kristin Provencher are gelling at the perfect time too.

In the final regular season game, the Cats put on a defensive showcase by not allowing the Orangemen a single shot on goal in the 2-0 shut out.

Today’s game marks an opportunity for NU to put everything together and avenge its regular-season loss to Ohio State. On Sept. 28, the Buckeyes eked out a 1-0 win in overtime thanks to senior Vannessa Immorodino, who scored on a penalty stroke in overtime following a questionable call inside the NU circle.

Immorodino proved to be the Cats kryptonite that day, and judging by her smoking season statistics, the senior could strike again. She leads the Big Ten in points per game with 2.78 and goals scored per game with 1.17.

Immorodino will look to help Ohio State rebound from its 5-0 loss to co-Big Ten regular season-champion Michigan State last weekend.

NU is looking to advance past the first round of the single-elimination tournament for the first time since Didio returned to the team in 1999.

Today’s winner will face the winner of the Indiana/Michigan State match on Saturday in the second round. Michigan, who won the regular season championship, is the only team with a first-round bye. Michigan State is the defending tournament champion.