{"id":650766,"date":"2026-08-27T22:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T22:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/650766\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T22:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T22:30:14","slug":"field-hockey-opening-weekend-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/650766\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Hockey Opening Weekend Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 college field hockey season kicks off this weekend\u00a0with all nine Big Ten teams in action, headlined by top-ranked Northwestern\u00a0beginning its\u00a0title defense at Lakeside Field.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fresh off back-to-back\u00a0national championships and three in\u00a0the last\u00a0five\u00a0years,\u00a0Tracey Fuchs\u2019\u00a0Wildcats set the standard for a loaded conference featuring five preseason\u00a0top-20\u00a0programs\u00a0\u2014\u00a0No. 1 NU, No. 11\u00a0Iowa, No. 13 Maryland, No. 14 Michigan, and No. 17 Rutgers.\u00a0Programs outside the rankings\u00a0have a chance\u00a0to\u00a0prove they can contend with the nation’s elite right out of the gate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s\u00a0what to watch\u00a0in\u00a0an action-packed opening weekend on the turf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Northwestern begins quest for three-peat\u00a0<\/p>\n

After winning the last two national championships, Northwestern begins\u00a0the 2026 field hockey season looking to become the first ever Big Ten program to win three straight national championships.\u00a0Only three other programs have\u00a0accomplished\u00a0the feat: Old Dominion, North Carolina, and Wake Forest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the Wildcats will have to replace two-time NFHCA National Player of the Year Maddie Zimmer, Fuchs returns a talent-rich core\u00a0which includes senior forward\u00a0Ashley Sessa,\u00a0senior\u00a0midfielder Ilse\u00a0Tromp,\u00a0and\u00a0junior\u00a0goalkeeper Juliana Boon, who went 19-1 as a starter in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Northwestern opens its title defense at Lakeside Field with a pair of home clashes, hosting A-10 contender VCU on Friday afternoon before taking on Patriot League runner-up Lafayette\u00a0on\u00a0Sunday. With Sessa spearheading the attack, the Wildcats will look to break down a disciplined\u00a0Leopards backline, while Boon (.775 SV% in 2025) anchors the defense in the cage. The Wildcats will look to\u00a0assert dominance\u00a0early as they look to make history\u00a0this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michigan, Iowa prepare for ranked\u00a0ACC\/B1G challenge\u00a0<\/p>\n

This weekend, both No. 14 Michigan and No. 11 Iowa head down to Winston-Salem,\u00a0North Carolina for the\u00a024th\u00a0annual\u00a0ACC\/Big Ten\u00a0Challenge.\u00a0The Big Ten pair\u00a0will face\u00a0top-10\u00a0ACC foes No. 2 North Carolina and No. 7 Wake Forest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Michigan, who\u00a0opens Friday against the Tar Heels before taking on the Demon Deacons on Sunday,\u00a0
\n returns\u00a021 players from the 2025 team,
\n <\/a>\u00a0including eight who started 10+ games. The Wolverines feature three of their top\u00a0five\u00a0goal\u00a0scorers from 2025 in Juliette Manzur, Eva Bernardy and Dru Moffett;\u00a0leading\u00a0scorer Abby Tamer will no longer be on the\u00a0field,\u00a0but\u00a0will be around the team after\u00a0joining\u00a0the coaching staff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iowa flips the schedule, opening against Wake Forest on Friday night before battling UNC on Sunday\u00a0morning. Ranked No. 11 in the preseason poll, the Hawkeyes bring back 13 rotators from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, led by First-Team All-Americans\u00a0Dionne van Aalsum\u00a0and\u00a0Fr\u00e9derique\u00a0van Cleef\u00a0orchestrating the attack.\u00a0Iowa\u00a0possesses\u00a0the offensive firepower to challenge two of the ACC\u2019s top contenders right out of the gate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Remaining\u00a0Big Ten teams\u00a0open\u00a02026 campaigns\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rounding out a loaded opening weekend across the conference, the rest of the Big Ten hits the field starting Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No. 13 Maryland:\u00a0Hosts Drexel and Temple in College Park.\u00a0No. 17 Rutgers:\u00a0Hits the road for matches against\u00a0No. 18\u00a0Monmouth and Wagner.\u00a0Ohio State:\u00a0Opens at home against Old Dominion and Bellarmine.\u00a0Penn State:\u00a0Hosts No. 5 Virginia and Lock Haven in State College.\u00a0Indiana:\u00a0Travels for back-to-back games against\u00a0No. 10\u00a0Miami (Ohio) and\u00a0No. 18\u00a0Louisville.\u00a0Michigan State:\u00a0Heads to Athens, Ohio, to face Ohio and Saint Louis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Check out\u00a0all\u00a0the game times and\u00a0viewing\u00a0info on\u00a0
\n the Big Ten field hockey schedule
\n <\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 college field hockey season kicks off this weekend\u00a0with all nine Big Ten teams in action, headlined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[2144,2569,2568,2570,5,2573,2571,86,1381,1392,2572],"class_list":["post-650766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey","tag-big-ten","tag-college-basketball-scores","tag-college-football-scores","tag-college-volleyball-scores","tag-hockey","tag-player-statistics","tag-sports-information","tag-sports-news","tag-sports-scores","tag-sports-videos","tag-team-statistics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117169843326714657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}