Who says Huskie Stadium is solely used for NIU and DeKalb High School football?

Many of you would loudly proclaim ‘yes’ to that question. But there are a few out there who actually realize the right answer is ‘no.’

The NIU field hockey team also shares tenant rights with Charlie Sadler’s guys and the hometown Barbs. Field hockey as in 11 girls on a side hitting a white ball with the same intentions of scoring as that indoor sport, ice hockey.

Not many of you know that a field hockey team actually exists here at NIU. But thanks to your friendly reporter, now some of you ignorant Huskie boosters can add another sport to your calendar of events to attend.

Sure, they have a losing record (4-8-1) but this is a team worth heading over to the stadium on a late Friday afternoon or Sunday morning for. After starting off slowly, Laurie Bell believes her team might be making headway.

You’re saying to yourself how can a team be improving if it has not reached the .500 mark yet? But if you have been paying attention the past month and a half, you know what kind of competition this youthful team has been up against. Youthful, as in consisting of 11 freshmen and only two upperclassmen.

Just as the football team has felt the effects of going up against powerhouses, the field hockey team has had more than its share of facing the nation’s best.

NIU began the season at defending national champion Old Dominion and learned a thing or two in a 10-0 defeat. Two days later, the Huskies fell 7-0 to Top-5 Penn State. From there, the youth got better and defeated St. Louis before conference play began.

But the team you can expect to see the remaining five games of 1991 and for the next three years or more showed what it has this past weekend. They exploded for 16 goals and allowed only three, fired 102 shots on goal and allowed only 13. Everything went in favor in three convincing Huskie wins.

Now that is total domination, NIU field hockey style. A good omen for the remainder of the season for Bell and her surging youth. With three home games remaining, (Oct. 25, 3 p.m., Oct. 27, 11 a.m., Nov. 3, 1 p.m.) it might be a good idea for some of you Huskie boosters to come out and experience something different.

If you can find a way to get to a football game, I’m sure you can devote some of your time to another tenant of the “doghouse.”