Field hockey snaps skid, earns second win of season
Central Michigan field hockey snapped its 14-game losing streak on Senior Day against Ball State in a Mid-American Conference matchup at the CMU Field Hockey Complex.
The Chippewas (2-15, 1-4 MAC) defeated the Cardinals (2-13, 2-3 MAC) 1-0 with strong defense and earned their first win since the month of September. Friday’s win also marks the first home conference win for the Chippewas since Oct. 16 2015 against Missouri State.
Sophomore back Samantha Glapinski opened the scoring on a penalty corner when she deflected a shot from senior back Kayla McClure to give the Chippewas the advantage at the 21 minute mark of the game.
“The last couple of games we have attacked first and we usually get a corner, then we don’t execute the corner,” head coach Catherine Ostoich said.
The first half of the match was a defensive slugfest as the Chippewas fought off four shots on goal and just as many penalty corners. The Chippewas played the majority of the first half on the defensive end but stood strong throughout the opening frame.
Roles reversed in the second half as the Chippewas forced the issue and maintained possession for most of the final frame allowing just five penalty corners.
Cardinals head coach Stephanie Bernthal wanted an aggressive mindset coming out of a timeout by pulling sophomore goalkeeper Grace Chavez with 6:32 to play. The move gave the Cardinals an extra attacker for the rest of the game.
“I thought my heart was going to come out of my body,” Ostoich said.
Ostoich touched on being in a similar situation alluding to the Sept. 7 game against Saint Francis in which the Chippewas held a 3-2 lead until the Red Flash scored on a string of three untimed penalty corners and again in overtime to steal the game.
Senior goalkeeper Lily Amadio made three tremendous stops while Ball State had their extra attacker on the field and made four overall.
“Those last six minutes all I was thinking about was doing it for the team," Amadio said. "I just had everyone else in my mind and playing with all I got.”
The Chippewas next take the field in the MAC Tournament against an opponent to be named later on Oct. 31 in Oxford, Ohio.
