The Penn State field hockey team will play the final two games of a four-game home stand this weekend at Bigler Field. After shutting out Princeton and West Chester over fall break, coach Morett says this team is exactly where she wants it to be.
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[ Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 ]
Northwestern, James Madison visit Bigler Field
By Christy Peters
Collegian Staff Writer
PHOTO: Mike Bencivenga
Nittany Lion Kiley Kulina tries to wrestle the ball from two Bucknell defenders at Bigler Field.
"This is where we want to be right now," she said, "and its taken us awhile to get here but we expected that, knowing that we had such an inexperienced team. We want to enjoy the time and take one day at a time."
With that said, Morett hasn't begun to look at James Madison University yet, which the Lions will play on Sunday. Instead she has been focusing on Northwestern. The Wildcats are scheduled to take on the Lions at 5 p.m. today.
"Their coach is a very good tactician," Morett said. "It's always been a good game, it's always been a scrappy game. They are a very feisty, pestery type of team. We are looking for a similar look between JMU and Northwestern. I think Northwestern plays with a plan, with very organized play, but also with a lot of creativity within their attack."
Morett has made the Lions continue to work on their passing game and defense in practice. She said that these have been areas the team has improved at and she wants the consistency to remain.
"We recognize that that is what has provided these wins for us and we don't want to abandon that," she said. "We want to stick with that passing game."
Senior captain Kiley Kulina said the confidence of her team is high after the two shutouts. She said that the passing game has come together and the team is ready for Northwestern.
"Northwestern is always very competitive," Kulina said. "They're aggressive. We just need to be ready because they are going to be right on us."
She added that although every game is important, playing a Big Ten team makes you have a little extra push in your body.
Morett agreed.
"I thought the past two games were very impressive," she said. "We've been talking the whole entire season about taking just one game at a time and conference play is probably the most competitive game you are going to have in the season."
Morett is hopeful that the two shutouts will provide more confidence and some momentum for this weekend's games. She said that she is consistently seeing her team improve.
"It's really been a team effort," Morett said. "We've seen every individual improve. People have seen us play a month ago and they see us play now and they think it's a completely different team, so that makes me feel good that we are improving."
Today's game against Northwestern is scheduled at 5 p.m., while Sunday's game against JMU will be played at noon. Both games will be held at Bigler Field.
