UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State Nittany Lion field hockey team (5-6, 1-3 B1G) heads to Evanston, Ill, to take on Northwestern (10-0, 2-0 B1G) in Big Ten field hockey action this weekend. The Nittany Lions battle the Wildcats on Friday, at 6 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. local).

Penn State is coming off a tough B1G road weekend, dropping close games at Michigan (2-1) and Ohio State (2-0). The Nittany Lions are being led by Joji Purdy and Natalie Freeman, who both have nine points. Purdy has four goals and an assist while Freeman has three and three. Keeper Aby Deverka has 37 saves and a 1.96 goals against average.

Northwestern enters the weekend with a perfect 10-0 mark, 2-0 in the conference. The Wildcats downed Iowa 3-1 last weekend in their last contest. Penn State leads the all-time series with the Wildcats 34-9-1.

Penn State returns home for two games next weekend, taking on Big Ten foes Iowa and Indiana. The Lions and Hawkeyes meet on Friday, Oct. 17, at 6 p.m. and PSU hosts Indiana on Sunday, Oct. 19, at 12 p.m.