March 24, 2010

EVANSTON, Ill. - For the first time in program history Northwestern will host a professional women's soccer team at Lakeside Field when the Chicago Red Stars visit Evanston March 31 to open the Wildcats' spring season.

NU will take on the second-year Women's Professional Soccer team at 6 p.m. The Red Stars roster features some of the top women's soccer players in the world, including Brazilian sensation Cristiane, U.S. Women's National Team members Megan Rapinoe and Kate Markgraf and former Big Ten star Ella Masar. The Red Stars will also play a second scrimmage that night against DePaul, scheduled to begin at 6:45. Northwestern and DePaul will also play a 45-minute scrimmage Wednesday night.

"It's such a great experience for our student-athletes to compete against some of the world's best female soccer players," said Northwestern Head Coach Stephanie Erickson. "We are excited to be a part of the Red Stars' preseason and it will be an exciting and fun way to start our spring competitions."

The match is the first in a seven-game spring schedule for Northwestern that will also see the 'Cats take on Big Ten foe Wisconsin and other regional rivals. The complete spring schedule appears below.

Northwestern returns a strong defensive core from its 2009 squad that produced six shutouts. Center back Briana Westlund (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) earned Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors after being the only league freshman to play every minute for her team in the '09 season. Goalkeeper Carolyn Edwards (Lincolnshire, Ill./Stevenson) has already etched her name all over Northwestern's career record book and will enter her senior season ranked second in career goals against average.

Offensively, the 'Cats look to replace graduated senior Alicia Herczeg, who led the team in scoring last fall.

"Scoring goals was a tough thing for us last fall," said Erickson. "We are looking forward to seeing if the repetitions and work we put into this area during the winter will pay off already this spring."

Fans are welcome to attend Northwestern's home spring scrimmages at Lakeside Field. There is no charge for admission and no concessions will be available.






2010 NORTHWESTERN WOMEN'S SOCCER SPRING SCHEDULE

March 31	Chicago Red Stars 2, Northwestern 0	Recap
	Northwestern 0, DePaul 0
April 10	Northwestern 1, Northern Illinois 0
	Goal: Caroline Dagley; Shutout by Grace Weitz
	Northwestern 2, University of Chicago 0
	Goals: Meredith Finsand, Lee Battaglia; Shutout by Grace Weitz
April 18	Northwestern 1, Loyola 0
	Goal: Jennifer Baumann (Assists: Briana Westlund, Caroline Dagley); Shutout by Carolyn Edwards & Grace Weitz
April 24	Northwestern 2, Wisconsin 0
	Goals: Kelsey Bertamus (2) (Assists: Meredith Finsand, Nicole Duller); Shutout by Carolyn Edwards & Grace Weitz
May 1	Alumni Game
May 7	DePaul 3, Northwestern 0

All home matches are in bold and contested at Lakeside Field.