Field hockey travels to East Lansing this weekend for Champions Invite
The Central Michigan field hockey team will be put to its first test Saturday at the Champions Invitational in East Lansing.
The Chippewas take on in-state rival No. 7 Michigan State at 11:30 a.m. It’s a game head coach Cristy Freese said the team looks forward to every year.
“We’re always excited to play Michigan State,” Freese said. “Our team is always challenged by them, and we’ve had a lot of close games.”
Since 2006, the teams have met on the field four times, three of which ended 2-0 in favor of Michigan State. The last meeting between the teams was October 2009, when MSU shut out CMU 2-0. Offensively, the Spartans dominated their opponents, outshooting them 28-9.
The game-winning goal was netted by Floor Rijpma, who now stands beside the opposite bench as an assistant coach.
In 2007, CMU upset MSU 3-2 thanks to a late goal by Kim Sihota in the 69th minute. Four members of that team will play this weekend in an attempt to repeat.
Michigan State finished the 2009 season 18-4 and a perfect 6-0 in the Big Ten Conference. They went on to win the Big Ten Tournament, beating Indiana 3-2.
“From a standpoint of teams, I think we’ll be most excited to play MSU because they’re next on our schedule,” Freese said. “I don’t care who we play, we have to establish ourselves as a team that will work harder than any of our opponents.”
CMU welcomes back five starters alongside the 10 freshmen recruits this season. The team is young, especially their goaltending core made up of junior Anastasia Netto and freshmen Carissa Flocken and Jamie Cutter.
While all three have combined for a single collegiate appearance in goal, assistant coach Kim Kinsella doesn’t consider it a negative heading into the season.
“For me, it just means I don’t have any bad habits to break,” she said.
