With two games left in the regular season for the No. 16 Stanford field hockey team (9-5-0, 5-1 AEC), the Cardinal have entered crunch time as they face No. 13 Northwestern (11-6-0) on Saturday and Michigan State (8-9-0) on Sunday in back-to-back battles against Big Ten teams this weekend.

Stanford has won eight of its last nine contests since a 1-4 record to start the season. The Cardinal currently rank second in the nation with a 1.09 goals-against average and have allowed either zero or one goals in eight of their last nine matches.

Stanford will need to maintain its defensive strength while also continuing to utilize its young core of offensive talent. Freshman Jessica Welch currently leads the team in goals and points, with six and 12 respectively. Senior Fran Tew is coming off a week in which she was named America East Offensive Player of the Week with her three-goal performance in last weekend’s games.

This weekend is an important one for Stanford’s postseason ambitions as the team hopes a statement against strong non-conference competition can help its placement in the NCAA bracket.

Live stats will be available for each of the games at gostanford.com.

Contact Amanda McLean at ammclean ‘at’ stanford.edu.