COLUMN: After 30 straight losses, field hockey needs change
Central Michigan Athletics has an issue to address with its field hockey team.
After the team's 30th straight loss to Miami (Ohio) on Friday, it's time to ask if head coach Molly Pelowski is the right fit.
Pelowski was hired before the 2015 season to replace longtime former coach Cristy Freese. Since being hired, Pelowski has won three games in 51 tries.
In her last two seasons (2013-14), Freese was 8-4 at home and 8-3 in the MAC.
Pelowski inherited a field hockey team that shared the 2014 Mid-American Conference regular season championship.
The 2014 team was the last to have a winning record in the MAC and at home. Four seniors on the current squad who played in 2014 are witnessing a collapse in the field hockey team as they finish their careers.
Now in Pelowski's third year at the helm, the team has failed to even come close to those heights. With her at the helm, a MAC regular season championship team became a winless team.
Field hockey is on the verge of a winless season, the first to happen to a CMU team since the turn of the century. For reference, CMU lacrosse has registered at least six wins in each of its first two seasons of existence.
Pelowski’s overall record currently sits at 3-48, with a 2-15 record in Mid-American Conference play.
The team is on a 30-game losing streak, as well as dropping 11 straight in the MAC. The Chippewas have also gone 33 straight games since its last regulation win at the end of the 2015 season — a 4-1 victory over Ball State.
Since the start of the 2015 season, the Chippewas have been outscored 207-32 and outshot 1,084-316. The team has also been shut out 29 times under Pelowski’s tenure, including a current 11-game scoreless streak.
The team tries to convert poor passes that are intercepted and struggle mightily in the offensive zone. Opposing players walk into scoring areas and capitalize on easy opportunities thanks to CMU's poor defense.
Pelowski’s squad starts the opening minutes of each game with energy then quickly fades once a defensive breakdown leads to an early deficit.
During the losing streak, the CMU field hockey team seems to carry a false sense of optimism. Pelowski and the team are hopeful during postgame interviews for their next opportunity to snap their losing skid.
However, their chances to win this season are slim.
This play is unacceptable. Pelowski has shown unlikely turn things around.
Whether the problem is lack of attention during practice, a poor game plan or bad execution in games, something needs to change quickly to avoid a winless season.
CMU's Athletics' Twitter bio endorses “A Championship Culture at Central Michigan University."
Do three wins in three years create a championship culture?
Absolutely not.
