Field hockey team hopes for first Big Ten victory

The field hockey team will have another tough challenge this weekend, traveling to Northwestern today to face the Wildcats (5-10, 2-3 in Big Ten play). The Hoosiers then return home at 1 p.m. Sunday to the friendly confines of Mellencamp Pavilion to battle Iowa (8-7, 1-3).\nWith six players originally from Illinois, the Hoosiers hope to create their own home field advantage in Evanston. \n"We're all very excited about Northwestern because a bunch of us are from Chicago," sophomore Erica Nilsson said. "There's a window of opportunity for us there."\nAll week, coach Amy Robertson has spent time refocusing the defense by fine-tuning the team's marking and positioning. The Hoosiers also need to cut down on the minor mistakes that opponents have been capitalizing on, Robertson said.\nIn order to earn two victories this weekend, the Hoosiers must remain intense throughout both games and Nilsson said she believes she can help her teammates. \n"I played as hard as I could for every minute of the game against Ohio State, and I'm just going to do that again," Nilsson said. "When players go out and push themselves, other players see that and they work even harder. If we can come together as a team and continue to motivate each other, we can come away with the win."\nThe Hoosiers already experienced a weekend with two games on their Pennsylvania trip earlier in the season, but senior captain Tania Hults said she is more excited about this set of games.\n"It won't be as rough because we know what we're getting into and we have a day in between games," Hults said. "But it will be competitive because we have two Big Ten games."\nRobertson said she still thinks Northwestern is the chance for the team to get its first Big Ten victory, as long as they can take advantage of the large number of penalty corners that Northwestern allows.\n"We probably will have a better chance against Northwestern," Robertson said. "We've played the best three teams in the Big Ten, but Iowa is coming on strong as of late and are playing very sharply. Northwestern has been in almost every game defensively, but they're not a great attacking team"