After three long weeks on the road, No. 9 Northwestern (11-5, 5-1 Big Ten) is finally returning home to Lakeside Field on Saturday to face Big Ten opponent Ohio State (6-9, 1-5). In their penultimate home game of the season, the Wildcats, who sit in a three-way tie for first place in the Big Ten, look to cement their dominance of the conference.

The road, at times, has proved challenging for the Cats. Though NU has earned decisive victories against Central Michigan and Michigan State in the past two weeks, the team has been narrowly edged by both No. 3 Stanford and No. 12 Michigan.

“We’re really excited to play a home game,” coach Tracey Fuchs said. “We only have two left, so we are really going to take advantage of it.”

Offensively, the Cats will continue to focus on starting out strong, pressing hard in the circle and cleanly executing penalty corners.

“We’ve been talking a lot about starting on our front foot,” junior Lisa McCarthy said.

Sophomore Dominique Masters, who is tied for the team lead in goals scored, agreed.

“You want an early lead to put the other team on their back foot,” she said. “Once you get a good lead, you can control the game, and that’s really what we want to do.”

As for corners, McCarthy said it’s all in executing the setup cleanly.

“Our hitters can put it on cage once it’s set up perfectly,” she said.

The Buckeyes, however, have some formidable attackers of their own, requiring constant defensive vigilance.

“They have some fast forwards and counter-attack really well,” Fuchs said. “When they get a free hit, they can go from point A to point B quickly, so we need to really be ready as soon as the whistle blows.”

McCarthy said the key to defending Ohio State will be staying in the game mentally as well as physically.

“They definitely have some quick forwards, so we need to make sure we are swiveling our heads and staying with our girl,” she said. “That’s really important.”

The game Saturday might also have an undercurrent of revenge.

Last year, the Cats trounced the Buckeyes in the regular season only to fall to them weeks later in the Big Ten tournament.

“We really want to prove something with this game,” Masters said. “We want to play our own game, enjoy it and get a good win.”

Meeting the Buckeyes on NU’s home turf will only serve to strengthen the Cats’ resolve.

“We want to protect our team and our field,” Masters said. “We don’t want anyone coming in and taking it and getting a win off of us. This is our home.”

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Twitter: @clairechansen