Field hockey plays to in Muncie this weekend
The CMU field hockey team has the chance to sweep Ball State in the season series this weekend.
The Chippewas will travel to Muncie, Ind., to play the Cardinals at 3 p.m. Friday. The team will play Longwood in a neutral-site match at 2 p.m. Saturday in Muncie.
Earlier in the year, the Chippewas held the Cardinals to one goal, winning 4-1. If they can duplicate that feat this weekend, Freese said she thinks the team has a good chance of duplicating the outcome as well.
“They have some explosive players on offense and, if we can hold them to one goal or less, then I like our chances,” she said. “We have to have a good total team effort in order to do good.”
While sophomore Paulina Lee said she understands winning is a good thing, she said the team needs to forget about the previous game against Ball State.
“I think that anytime you go out and play against a team, you need to go out there with a fresh slate,” she said. “It could have just been that they were having a bad game or something, and you need to respect that team and play hard against every opponent.”
The four goals scored in the game is the highest the Chippewas have scored all season. For the most part, the offense has struggled this season. The team has been held to two goals or less in nine of its 12 games.
“I think one thing that we are trying to do is jump-start our offense a little bit,” Freese said. “We have been tinkering with the idea of moving players up all week, but we don’t want to hurt our defense in order to help our offense, but we do need to score goals.”
Longwood
CMU plays Longwood for the first time Saturday.
“Longwood is really a team that is similar to us in that they defend well, but they have trouble scoring,” Freese said. “It is a team that we have never played before, and it is a program that is Division I in field hockey, but Division II in a lot of their other sports.”
Longwood went 0-2 last weekend and is on a five-game losing streak. Freese said it is crucial for her team to start stringing together wins to gain momentum heading into the Mid-American Conference Tournament in three weeks.
“Last weekend was tough because we were playing two Big Ten teams that were very good,” she said. “We have got to come out of this weekend 2-0. It is very important that we do that.”
