No. 13 Iowa field hockey is set to open its 2013 season with a pair of games this weekend in Pennsylvania. Head coach Tracey Griesbaum’s squad will face off against Bucknell at 6 p.m. (CDT) today and travel to Lafayette College on Sept. 1 for an 11 a.m. (CDT) contest.

Senior goalkeeper Kelsey Boyce is scheduled to start in the net for tonight’s game. The senior played half of the team’s exhibition against Ball State on Aug. 22 and the entire regulation and overtime period against Missouri State on Sunday.

Last season, Bucknell finished 9-10 under Jeremy Cook, a former U.S. men’s national field-hockey team member. The team boasted three student-athletes on the preseason All-Patriot League Team.

Lafayette, the defending Patriot League champion, promoted assistant coach Jennifer Stone to the helm of the team after six seasons of experience with the Leopards. Junior Brittany Blass was named the preseason Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. Lafayette went 17-1 last season and finished 13th in the final National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll for 2012.

“I think the opportunity to start our season in Pennsylvania, when we have a lot of East Coast student-athletes on our team, that’s real exciting,” Griesbaum said. “I don’t anticipate either team backing down; we always have a target on us — they’ll be gunning for us.”

The Hawks will open their home schedule Sept. 7-8 when they host the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge at Grant Field. They will face Wake Forest on Sept. 7 and North Carolina on Sept. 8. Both games are scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m.

— by Danny Payne