Field hockey eliminated from MAC tournament
Forward Debbie Bell lead the way with two goals and an assist as Kent State knocked Central Michigan out of the Mid-American Conference tournament Friday with a 4-2 victory at the CMU Field Hockey Complex.
Senior Nicole Leach put the Golden Flashes on the board in the 13th minute, recoding her eighth goal of the season on a pass from Bell, who added a goal in the 24th minute to put KSU up 2-0.
“Debbie is hard to defend and she certainly has an excellent shot,” said head coach Cristy Freese. “I think the strength of Kent is they’ve got a handful of really solid players, so if you try to take Debbie out of the game in terms of not letting her get the ball, then you’ve got Rachel Miler - player of the year - going through into the circle.”
Just before the half, sophomore Emily Girasole scored on a cross from senior Pam Seufert to put CMU on the board.
In the second half, junior Anastasia Netto was tested early. KSU strung three shots together in the first minute, all of which Netto knocked aside. She finished with nine saves on 13 shots on net.
“I thought Anna did a nice job,” Freese said. “Kent’s a good team, and that’s why they’re the number one team.”
Bell found the back of the net again the 43rd minute, tipping in a rebound from senior Katie George’s shot. The game-winning goal was her 24th of the season.
CMU made a push to get back in the game when Seufert scored her fourth goal on the season, and second of the tournament in the 52nd minute.
The Chippewas offense seemed to be gaining momentum, but took a hit in the 54th minute when sophomore Erin Dye got a yellow card, leaving the team down their top scorer for five minutes.
Up a player, the Golden Flashes capitalized in the 57th minute. Senior Bryn Stevens scored her first goal of the season, which seemed to be a dagger in the CMU comeback.
“I think our players and our team felt we still had a chance and obviously that fourth goal took a little of the wind out,” Freese said. “Obviously our shooting percentage was good, we just have to get more shots.”
KSU won the shots battle 21-2, putting 13 of them on net to CMU’s two. They won the corners battle 10-0.
“We’ve got to do a better job getting corners and getting shots,” Freese said.
With the loss, CMU finished 0-3 against Kent State this season.
In their last meeting, the Chippewas were blown out 8-1. Bell scored the first goal in the 7th minute, and from there KSU produced a shower of goals. Seufert scored the lone goal for CMU.
Miami 3, Ohio 0
On the other half of the bracket, No. 2 Miami will move on to play Kent State in the finals after beating Ohio 3-0 Friday.
Miami got on the board in the 22nd minute on a goal by freshman forward Kelsey Lund, her fifth of the season.
Redshirt senior Mary Hull added an insurance goal in the 43rd minute, and junior back Kylie Landeros put the game away with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation.
Protecting the Miami cage, freshman Sarah Mueller made five saves to earn her third straight shutout, and eighth of the season.
The No. 1 and 2 teams will play for the MAC tournament title at 1 p.m. Saturday at the CMU Field Hockey Complex in Mount Pleasant.
