Northwestern field hockey opens its Big Ten Tournament title defense against Indiana on Friday, Nov. 6, in Columbus, Ohio.

The No. 1-seeded Wildcats face the No. 5 Hoosiers at noon CT at Buckeye Varsity Hockey Field, according to Northwestern athletics. The winner advances to the championship game Sunday, Nov. 8, against either No. 2 Maryland or No. 6 Iowa.

Northwestern (16-2, 7-1 Big Ten) earned a quarterfinal bye as the top seed but enters the tournament off a 2-0 loss to then-No. 14 Penn State on Oct. 30 to close the regular season. The Wildcats are the reigning Big Ten Tournament champions.

Senior forward Ashley Sessa, the Big Ten Player of the Year, also claimed her third consecutive Offensive Player of the Year honor, according to Northwestern athletics. Sessa has tallied 34 points this season and 166 in her career, the third-highest total in program history. She led the conference with eight goals in Big Ten play.

In The Daily Northwestern's coverage published in October, coach Tracey Fuchs said of Sessa: "She's minimum, top two players in the country right now, but when she's in the circle, she's deadly … So I'm glad she's wearing purple."

The Wildcats already handled Indiana once this season, winning 4-1 in Bloomington. Senior back/midfielder Ilse Tromp scored twice in that game, while Sessa and first-year forward Raquel Hofmeister each added a goal, The Daily Northwestern reported.

This time, it is single-elimination.

Inside NU noted that Northwestern's penalty corner conversion has slipped. The Wildcats rank sixth in Division I with 8.22 penalty corners per game but struggled to finish in recent outings. Against Penn State, they had three corners and scored on none. In the October meeting with Indiana, they earned six corners and converted just one.

Sessa (12 goals, 10 assists), Tromp (12 goals) and Olivia Bent-Cole (eight goals) give Northwestern plenty of firepower. First-year players Kiera Sack and Hofmeister have also stepped up in key moments. Sack scored against Rutgers to tie a game, Inside NU reported.

Goalkeeper Juliana Boon anchors the defense. In the October win over Indiana, she allowed one goal while the Wildcats shut out the Hoosiers through the entire second half. Indiana goalie Sadie Canelli has recorded 43 saves and a 74.1% save percentage this season, per Inside NU.

The coaching staff, led by Fuchs, won Big Ten Coaching Staff of the Year for the fourth consecutive season. Northwestern's penalty corner execution may determine whether that staff gets one more game in Columbus.