The Big Ten tournament will take place this weekend at Lakeside Field on Northwestern University's campus.

The Penn State Field Hockey team will take on the University of Iowa today at 1 p.m.

The Nittany Lions are ranked as the fifth seed in the tournament after tying the Hawkeyes for the fourth seed position.

However, Iowa claimed the fourth spot by defeating Penn State 2-1 earlier in the season.

If Penn State defeats Iowa, they will move on to play top seed Michigan State, Saturday at 12:30 p.m. If they lose, they go home.

The winner of the entire conference championship gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Penn State has had 19 consecutive bids and Lion's coach Char Morett said earlier in the season that she is confident they will receive their 20th bid this year.

Penn State is relying on the momentum they gained at the end of their season, when they posted an eight-game win streak, to help them through the tournament.

On a side note, the last time the tournament was held at Northwestern, the Lions took home the championship. No other team has won at the tournament more than Penn State, which boasts an 11-3 record overall in the Big Ten tournament.

Other teams taking to the field will be Ohio State vs. Indiana and Michigan vs. Northwestern.

— by Christy Peters