Aug. 22, 2006
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2006 SEASON BEGINS THIS WEEKEND
The 2006 Big Ten field hockey season begins this weekend with all seven conference teams in action on Saturday, Aug. 26. Indiana opens the 2006 season on the road against Virginia. Iowa and Michigan will compete in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Hawkeyes will take on Wake Forest, while the Wolverines will face host North Carolina on Saturday. Michigan State battles Delaware in the first round of the Champions Invitational in Durham, N.C. Northwestern travels to Oxford, Ohio to take on Miami (Ohio) and Ohio State opens its 2006 slate at Boston College, while defending Big Ten Champion Penn State hosts Old Dominion.
LOOK WHO'S BACK
Returning to Big Ten fields in 2006 are 11 All-Conference standouts from last season. Iowa's Heather Schnepf, 2005 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, headlines the list of first-team All-Conference picks returning in 2006. Seven more honorees join Schnepf on the first team in Indiana's Haley Exner, Morgan Miller and Lydia Schrott, Michigan's Mary Fox, Ohio State's Yesenia Luces and Curlyne Wynn and Penn State's Kiersten Wood. The Big Ten also welcomes back three second-team selections in Iowa's Caroline Blaum and Caitlin McCurdy and Ohio State's Saskia Mueller.
NCAA SUCCESS
Last season, the conference qualified four teams (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State) for the 2005 NCAA Field Hockey Championship. The Big Ten has now sent at least three teams to the NCAA's in six of the last seven seasons (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005).
25th ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN
During the 2006-07 season, the Big Ten will celebrate the conference's 25th Anniversary of Women's Championships.
From Aug. 15, 2006 to July 2007, the conference will be sharing some of the many stories of student-athletes, teams, coaches and administrators who have made the past 25 years a success and have set the stage for "the story to continue."
Information about campaign can be found on the official conference website - www.bigten.org.
