Regular season MAC Title completes field hockey season
In its first nine games, Central Michigan University’s field hockey team earned just one win. Once Mid-American Conference play started, the team came together and won its first regular season title since 2002.
With only four seniors on the 2014 roster, finding team chemistry did not come easy for the Chippewas this fall.
CMU’s schedule included some of the National College Athletic Association’s best programs, which tested Head Coach Cristy Freese’s group early and often.
In the first four games, CMU faced the likes of national ranked teams such as Duke University and University of Michigan.
“We went through some growing pains (earlier in the season) we had to build our defense from scratch,” Freese said.
The end of non-conference play, a three game sweep in California at the hands of Pacific University, Stanford University and UC Davis were how the Chippewas got their start in 2014.
CMU scored a combined three goals during that stretch while allowing five in each. While it was the clear low point of the season, a line-up change late against UC Davis provided a spark for the team.
After being shutout in two consecutive games on the road, Freese moved junior Kaysie Gregory to the forward line. The result was three goals scored by CMU, one by Gregory and two from freshman Haley Bova.
“We wanted to move Kaysie up before,” Freese said. “Putting her up on the forward line was key for us.”
When MAC play started, the team chemistry ignited, and the defense clicked after getting adjusted to some new faces.
CMU won its first four conference games. With an overtime loss to Ohio University, a game against Kent State University was a must win for the regular season conference crown.
The Golden Flashes came to Mount Pleasant with a 5-0 record in the MAC. Since 2007, KSU had won every regular season game against CMU.
A 2-1 win over KSU secured the MAC title for the Chippewas, and the team finished 5-1 in the conference.
In the conference tournament, CMU fell to OU 2-1 in a shootout in the semi finals.
“We have a lot of young talent that got good playing time this year, and now we’re used to being in the tournament,” Freese said.
