Of the many MSU sports kicking off their seasons this weekend, the field hockey team opens their regular season schedule with a bang — two home games in three days.

While various tailgating festivities are taking place Friday afternoon, Head Coach Helen Knull and her team will be taking on Duke’s Blue Devils at 3 p.m. at Ralph Young Field, located right next to Spartan Stadium.

Following that matchup, the team competes against Maine University on Sunday morning at 11 a.m., also at Ralph Young Field.

In a poll recently released by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association, the Spartans ranked nationally as the No. 16 team following their surprise run to the Elite Eight last year. The same poll has MSU’s first opponent, Duke, ranked as the No. 4 team.

“From last year into this year, we have a tendency to take ... five, six minutes to get into the game pace,” Knull said. “We have to be the team to set the tone.”

Trying to carry the momentum of last year’s season, this could be a telling game before heading into a daunting Big Ten schedule.

According to the NFHCA poll, the Big Ten has six teams ranked in the top 25, including Michigan — who comes in at No. 17 — and newly christened Big Ten member Maryland, who is the top ranked team in the nation.

After their game on Sunday, the team goes on the road for five consecutive games and won’t play at home until a Sept. 25 meeting with the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions.

With Knull putting focus on starting off well from game one, it should make for an intense seventy minutes of Spartan field hockey against two of the top teams in the country on Friday afternoon.

Moreover, the game on Sunday could prove a trap game after the high profile game against Duke two nights prior. Knull will be able to see if this team can provide the consistent effort she is looking for on a game-to-game basis.

Admission is free to both games.