Don’t tell NIU field hockey coach Laurie Bell that prospective freshmen were being turned away at the door by school admissions this fall because all she sees this season are freshmen, freshmen, freshmen.

Make that 13 new faces altogether to go along with five familiar faces. Put all 18 together and what Bell and assistant coach Julie Teaman have is a very young team for the 1991 campaign. “This is the largest group (of freshmen) I’ve had as a coach,” Bell said.

Bell enters her sixth year at the helm trying to navigate her crew through a tough schedule, with the season opener coming up Sept. 7 at Old Dominion, which happens to be the defending national champion. Not a bad way to introduce the 13 “youngsters” to the competition of intercollegiate athletics.

We’re a very young team and the schedule can only help us in the long run,” Bell said. Yet the youth and inexperience of many of the players combined with the difficult schedule may make it hard to equal or top last season’s record of 6-12. “We had a high graduation loss from last year so it’s hard to say how we’ll fare,” she said.

After the opener against Old Dominion, the schedule features a date with Final Four qualifier Penn State (Sept. 9), home contests with national powers, Iowa and Northwestern, and the home opener against the Billikens of Saint Louis on Sept. 16 at Huskie Stadium.

“This is a tough schedule for a young group,” Bell said. “It will hopefully be a fun year for the girls, not necessarily a long year because of what we’re up against. We want to work on progress throughout the year and try to put some wins together along the way.”

Since practice began on Aug. 19, Bell and Teaman have been trying to fit the pieces together the best they can. “I’m real pleased with the girls so far,” Bell said. “Our returning five look real good. Plus, the cool weather we had during two-a-days really helped. Since the girls are young, we really can’t expect too much right now.”

What Bell hopes for is leadership from her three recently named captains: lone senior Pam Snavely, sophomore Wendy Hozempa and freshman Danielle Derr. Junior Tina Hahn joins Snavely as the two returning upperclassmen.

As far as a starting lineup for Saturday’s game, not even the coach knows at this juncture. “It’s wide open,” Bell said. “With so many new kids, we haven’t been able to decide at this point. We still have this week to practice and we should know for sure by week’s end.

“I have not set any goals for this year. They’re so young that I just want effort from them; work as hard as they can, play hard and play smart. We want them to get the concepts down but we know the skill level will not be there right away. They will be learning as the season progresses.”