No. 7 Maryland field hockey hopes to extend its game winning streak when it faces No. 4 Northwestern (8-2, B1G 0-1) on Thursday night at 6 p.m. and No. 1 Iowa (10-0, B1G 2-0) on Sunday at noon. 

“I’m super excited that multiple Big Ten schools are in the Top 10,” head coach Missy Meharg said. “It feels very much like the old years of ACC where it is just a great match and you know what the competition is going to be like.”

The Terps have now reached their most difficult part of the season, facing ranked teams in eight of their last nine matches. 

Terps forward Hope Rose earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week after scoring three goals and one assist over the weekend and is now tied for second in team goal scoring with four goals.  

“It feels pretty good,” Rose said. “I honestly did not see it coming, but when I saw it I was overwhelmed and excited.”

The Wildcats are led by forward Bente Baekers and forward/midfielder Maren Seidel who pace the team with eight and seven goals respectively. Baekers also leads the team with six assists. 

The Hawkeyes also have a prolific goal contributor in forward/midfielder Ellie Holley, who leads the Hawkeyes with eight goals and seven assists. Iowa’s goalie Grace McGuire has posted seven straight shutouts and only allowed a total of four goals which all came during the team’s first two matches. Iowa also features defender Anthe Nijzie, the back-to-back Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. 

Both Northwestern and Iowa are high scoring teams, having scored 42 and 43 goals respectively. The Terps have also been a successful goal scoring team having scored 18 goals over their past four matches. 

Additionally, both Northwestern and Iowa have yet to play an overtime game this season.  

Despite being the biggest weekend of Maryland field hockey, the team is not approaching the task any differently. 

“It’s exciting, just something to look forward to,” midfielder Nathalie Fiechter said. 

Both games can be streamed on Big Ten Plus.