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Nov. 9, 2004
The Big Ten has qualified three teams for the NCAA Field Hockey Championship for a fourth straight season, as Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State will represent the Conference in the 2004 NCAA Championship. The Big Ten has now sent at least three teams to the national tournament in five of the last six seasons (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004). With a pair of wins this weekend, four teams will advance to the national semifinals to be held November 19 and 21 in Winston-Salem, N.C., on the campus of Wake Forest University.
The fifth-ranked Wolverines (16-5, 5-1) were awarded the right to host the opening two rounds of the NCAA Championship after claiming a share of the Big Ten regular season title and winning the Conference Tournament last weekend. Earning its sixth consecutive berth, Michigan leads all Conference programs with a 10-4 overall record in the postseason after advancing to the semifinals last year. UM's first round matchup on Saturday will be against Pacific, which won the NCAA play-in game against Louisville to earn a tourney berth. In earlier non-conference action, the Wolverines shutout the Tigers, 3-0.
Michigan State, ranked eighth in the final STX/NFHCA National Coaches Poll, advanced to its fourth consecutive NCAA Championship and will face 13th-ranked Boston College on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Spartans clinched a share of the Conference regular season title after posting a 5-1 League mark and 16-3 overall record. MSU, which has never lost in the first round, will look to avenge last year's second-round loss to Michigan and advance to the semifinal round for the first time since the 2002 season.
Iowa will be making its first NCAA appearance since the 1999 season and the 17th in program history when the Hawkeyes face off against seventh-ranked American in College Park, Md. Iowa, ranked 11th nationally, opened the season with an 0-3 record, but bounced back to compile a 13-7 overall mark, while clinching a share of the regular season crown and advancing to the Big Ten Tournament finals. The Hawkeyes boast a 24-17 record in NCAA play, reaching the national semifinals 10 times and claiming the League's first national title in 1986.
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