The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern has eight men's and eleven women's NCAA Division I sports teams and is marketed as "Chicago's Big Ten Team". The mascot is Willie the Wildcat. History Northwestern is a charter member of the Big Ten Conference and has been the only private university in the conference since the University of Chicago left in 1946. With an approximately 8,000 undergraduate students, it is the smallest school in the Big Ten. Currently, Northwestern fields 19 intercollegiate athletic teams (8 men's and 11 women's) in addition to numerous club sports. Recent success by the Wildcats includes: Northwestern Football's bowl game victories (2016-2018 and 2020) and its 2018 and 2020 Big Ten West title; Women's Basketball winning the 2020 Big Ten regular season championship; Women's Lacrosse winning the 2019 and 2021 Big Ten tournament title and 2021 Big Ten Regular Season title; Women's Field Hockey winning the 2021 NCAA tournament title; Softball earning the 2019 and 2022 NCAA Regional Championship in Evanston and reaching the 2022 Women's College World Series; Wrestling's Sebastian Rivera winning an individual Big Ten championship in 2019 and Ryan Deakin winning an individual NCAA championship in 2022; Fencing claiming multiple Midwest Fencing Conference championships in 2018, 2019 and 2021; Women's Tennis securing the 2018 Big Ten regular season crown; and Women's Diver Olivia Rosendahl collecting individual NCAA championships in both 2018 and 2019. Mascot The Northwestern Athletics' mascot is Willie the Wildcat. However, the team's first mascot was a live, caged bear cub from the Lincoln Park Zoo named Furpaw. In fall 1923, Furpaw was driven to the playing field to greet the fans before each game. After a losing season, the team decided that Furpaw was the harbinger of bad luck and Willie made his debut ten years later in 1933. Willie initially debuted as a logo, coming to life later in 1947, when members of the Alpha Delta fraternity dressed up as him during the Homecoming parade. Now, Willie attends at least one event of each varsity sport throughout the year and dons replica uniforms whenever possible. Origin of the name Northwestern's athletic teams are nicknamed the Wildcats. Before 1924, they were known as "The Purple" and unofficially as "The Fighting Methodists." The name