When it comes to sports, the Big Ten is widely considered to have the elite teams. The best of the best. Field hockey is no different.
The fact that five of the seven Big Ten field hockey teams were ranked in the top 20 by end of the 2003 season lends a certain aura to the conference. Even though it’s not placed in sunny Miramar, Calif., the Big Ten’s competition level does have a “Top Gun” kind of feel to it.
The Northwestern field hockey team were so up and down this year, it displayed shades of Maverick, from the 1986 classic, Top Gun. Minus the dogfighting and karaoke, of course — unless the players went to the 1800 Club on Sundays.
The Wildcats (9-10) kicked off the season with an upset over No. 13 Boston College and were out the gate with a 4-2 nonconference record against some tough teams.
Confidence was high, and the team was clicking.
But once Big Ten competition began, the Cats struggled to maintain their winning ways against the best in the nation. Much like Maverick struggled to get back in the saddle once he lost Goose, the Cats ran off a streak of five consecutive conference losses before finally nabbing a Big Ten win against Indiana, 3-2.
Head coach Marisa Didio often spoke of the Cats’ opposition as targets. And while NU had a good lock on most of the nonconference competition during the season, the team was only able to beat one out of eight Big Ten opponents they faced.
Again though, the list of competition was strong and distinguished. The Cats gave top 10 teams Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State all they could handle.
NU battled week in and week out. In the Big Ten, NU lost more often than not, but some of the losses were as close as they could be. The Cats fell to Ohio State in overtime, 1-0, during the regular season, and the Buckeyes barely held off a second-half surge from NU in the first round of the Big Ten tournament en route to a 3-2 win.
NU also played solid field hockey against its biggest rival Iowa, but was shut out in both regular-season games, 1-0 and 2-0.
But to the Cats’ credit, they laced it up every weekend and left it all out on the field, thanks to some savvy leadership from seniors Diane Provencher, Suzi Sutton and Katie Walshauser.
Even though the Cats didn’t come away with the Big Ten tournament hardware, a couple of Cats did earn postseason honors. Diane Provencher and junior Candice Cooper were named to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-Region team. Both players also earned second-team All Big Ten honors. Cooper led the Wildcats in scoring this season with 19 points on eight goals and three assists.
The Cats lose a solid core of senior leaders but look for Cooper and junior Morgan Kuhn to fill that role next year. And they appear to be set in goal for the next couple seasons after true freshman Sherri-Anne Nyberg put together an outstanding season with 89 saves, which ranked fifth in the Big Ten.
Even though there are no points for second place, when you play field hockey in the Top Gun of conferences, sometimes just putting up a fight is something to be proud of.
