Northwestern to host Big Ten field hockey tournament

After clinching a share of the Big Ten Championship on Saturday, Ohio State earned the No. 1 seed and an automatic spot in the semifinals of the 2010 Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament this week.

Northwestern University will host the tournament in Evanston, with opening-round matchups played on Thursday, semifinals on Friday and the championship game on Sunday. The tournament winner will earn the Big Ten's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship.

Ohio State tied Michigan at 5-1 in conference play, but Ohio State's a 2-1 victory over the Wolverines on Oct. 22 earned it the No. 1 spot.

Michigan also clinched a share of Big Ten Championship on Saturday with a 5-2 victory over Indiana, earning the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

Defending Big Ten champion Michigan State earned the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will face No.5 seed Northwestern in the tournament's opening round game at 10 a.m. Thursday. The two teams faced off on Sunday in the regular-season finale with the Spartans coming away with a 3-2 victory.

Rounding out the field, Indiana is the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 Penn State at approximately 2:30 p.m. CT in Thursday's final game. Iowa is the No. 7 seed and will face No. 2 Michigan at 12:15 p.m. CT in the tournament's second opening round game.

The top-seeded Buckeyes will face the winner of the matchup between Michigan State and Northwestern at Noon CT on Friday. The second semifinal will pit the winner of the Michigan-Iowa and Penn State-Indiana games at approximately 2 p.m. on Friday. The tournament championship game will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

The semifinals and final will be televised live by the Big Ten Network.

The complete tournament bracket is attached.