Brian Manzullo

The field hockey team will take its game to the road this weekend as it faces a rematch against Miami University and then travels to Ball State.

CMU will face Miami on the road at 3 p.m. today and will try to avenge the Sept. 12 loss to the RedHawks. The team then will travel across the Indiana border to face Ball State at 1 p.m. Saturday.

On Sept. 12, the last time these two teams met, the RedHawks blanked the Chippewas 2-0.

Senior Samantha Sandham thinks the first five minutes against the offensively-dangerous Miami today could prove to be the most important part of the game.

“We need to set the pace right away,” she said. “If we can score first that will make it a whole new ball game on the field. We need to come out in the first five minutes and just bring our game and play to what we know.”

CMU comes into the game with a revamped defense. The defensive improvement is due in part to some personnel changes. The team lost each of its last four games by only one goal, and the team has allowed 10 goals in that stretch.

Coach Cristy Freese thinks this weekend will turn out differently because of the new defense.

“I think we are a little different team than the first time we played them,” she said. “I think that our defensive personnel adjustments will help shut them down a little bit.”

Goals were few and far between as the team was shut out in four of its nine games so far. One thing that is not rare, however, are shots from the Chippewa offense.

CMU outshot its opponents in six of its first nine games and in each of its last four losses. The team more than doubled up Indiana in shots last weekend, 25-11, but still fell short, 1-0 in overtime.

Freese said the team needs to continue to rush to the goal after shots.

“I think we need to do a better job of tipping the ball and getting rebounds,” she said. “We are getting the shots and we need to create problems for their goaltender and hopefully get us on the board more quickly.”

Sandham thinks the team will do just fine this weekend if it focuses and plays like a team that needs a win.

“I know we have the ability to win,” she said. “It is the approach we bring to the game day will count for us. We’ve got to want it more than they do and that is pretty much what it comes down to.”

sports@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: Jacob Lougheed