Big Ten Tournament -- at stake, an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The third-seeded Penn State field hockey team will open the Big Ten Tournament against No. 6 Northwestern today at 2 p.m. at North Turf Field of Ohio State. This will be the third game of the day, preceeded by No. 2 Michigan State vs. No. 7 Indiana and No. 4 Ohio State against No. 5 Iowa. Defending national champion Michigan has the No. 1 seed and the bye.

The previous game between the Nittany Lions (15-3, 4-2 Big Ten) and the Wildcats (6-12, 1-5) saw Penn State battle to a 1-0 overtime win off an Amanda Eckert goal very early in the overtime period.

"We controlled the game, but they were threatening at times," Penn State field hockey coach Char Morett said. "They did a good job defending us."

That Wildcats' defense is led by goalie Kendra Mesa, who was named this week's Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after recording a pair of shutouts, one of which was a key Big Ten win over Indiana, to steal the No. 6 seed. Freshman Kelly Augustine has split time between the posts for Northwestern, appearing in four of the Wildcats' wins.

Last season saw the Lions make an early exit from the Big Ten tournament after a 3-2 overtime loss to Iowa. However, Penn State boasts the best winning percentage among teams playing in the Big Ten Tournament, at 11-4. Four consecutive Big Ten Tournament titles were won by the Lions from 1995 to 1998.

The Lions hope to avenge last season's NCAA Tournament snub by making a strong showing this weekend. Morett wants to continue to utilize her bench play, especially with forwards Mary Schaeffer and Karin Grap, who has registered the third highest goal total on the team behind midfielder Heather Conroy and forward Timarie Legel. Grap's nine goals are better than Northwestern's leading scorer and midfielder Candice Cooper's eight.

Northwestern is coming off a much improved 2002 season, with the Wildcats tripling their two-win total from last season, the program's most overall victories since 1997.

"They are a very competitive team," Morett said. "They have definitely improved all over."

Morett will break the 300-win total if she's able to guide the Lions to Sunday's championship game. She is currently fourth on the Div. I all-time wins list, but in typical Morett fashion, she's focusing on team play and not her individual accomplishments.

If the Lions can make it past the Wildcats today, they will face the winner of the Michigan State/Indiana game. Facing Indiana should be an easier task for the Lions, who earned an easy 7-0 win over the Hoosiers earlier in the season. On the other hand, the Spartans handed the Lions their first loss of the season at the end of September, a 5-0 loss, after Penn State had started the season with a seven-game win streak.

"We're going to start the game the same way," Morett said. "The past couple games we've made some changes. We just hope we can play consistently."