field hockey

To Penn State co-captain Heather Conroy, preseason seems like it was only a week ago.

The fifth-year senior on the No. 7 Penn State field hockey team is now preparing for her final postseason, which begins at 12:30 p.m. today when the Nittany Lions (15-5, 3-3) take on Iowa (11-7, 2-4) at Bigler Field in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Conroy said that Iowa is characterized by its defense and low tacklers. To prepare for the Hawkeye attack, the Lions have been focusing on going around their opponents in practice this week rather than trying to go through defenders.

Penn State enters the weekend with little momentum, having lost two of its last three games to Michigan State and Michigan. However, Conroy said the losses can still be seen as a positive if the team finds the right things to take out of them.

"Losing two games can do nothing but help us," she said. "We know we need to come back stronger and harder."

The Hawkeyes also begin the tournament with little momentum, as they lost to Wake Forest and Indiana in their last two regular season games. While Wake Forest is ranked as the top team in the country and is defending national champions, the Hoosiers traveled to Iowa without a Big Ten win and stunned the Hawkeyes.

The winner of the Penn State-Iowa match-up will take on No. 1 seed Michigan tomorrow at 11 a.m.

In today's other match-ups, No. 2 Michigan State battles No. 7 Indiana at 10 a.m. and No. 3 Ohio State squares off against No. 6 Northwestern at 3 p.m. The Big Ten tournament will close out with the championship game which will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

- By Sheil Kapadia