Tied teams meet at BSU Saturday
Lynn WloszekField hockey coach Cristy Freese realizes the impact Saturday’s game at Ball State could have.
The Chippewas are 5-7 overall and 2-2 in the MAC, while Ball State is 5-8 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
‘This game is really big, because we are both tied in the conference,” Freese said. “We can’t have too many more losses if we want to win the MAC.”
Senior center back Katie Coccia knows the opportunity CMU has Saturday.
“We haven’t played Ball State, and we can make a big statement by beating them,” she said. “They’ve been beaten; we know we can beat them, but we know they can play strong. I am excited because it is always intense playing Ball State.”
The Chippewas have won six of their last seven games against Ball State, but Freese would like to see improvement on offense.
“We need to do a better job getting the ball outside from the middle,” Freese said. “Sometimes we just do the same thing, but we have to add a little variety to our offense.”
Erica Takach played in Tuesday’s game against Stanford after missing two games with an ankle injury. The sophomore midfielder has two goals this season.
“I wanted to get Erica in to see how she would be, but I played her more than I thought I would,” Freese said. “She is so focused when she plays that she doesn’t let anything like an injury bother her.”
Takach is happy to be back after sitting out against No. 6 Iowa Sunday, when CMU lost 3-2.
“I am excited to be playing against a MAC team; I could not stand being on the sidelines,” Takach said. “It doesn’t matter that we are tied with Ball State because we started off the season rough, and we are getting better as the season progresses. We are confident going into Saturday’s game.”
Freese said freshman goalkeeper Danielle Frank is making improvements game by game. She has made 27 saves this season, and has a 2.73 goals against average.
“The nice thing about Danielle starting and playing three entire games is that I have seen her make adjustments,” Freese said. “But she is a freshman, so you look for consistency, and if she were to struggle, I am very comfortable with putting in (senior goalkeeper) Laura (Plese).”
The Cardinals are coming off of a 5-2 loss to Ohio State. After winning their first two MAC games, the Cardinals have dropped their last two.
“Ball State is a solid team, and they are very solid on defense,” Freese said. “Ball State might have the best defense in the conference. They get a lot of people back, so if we can’t get fast breaks on them, it will be tough to get the ball into the circle.”
Aside from the Cardinals defense that only allows two goals a game, senior forward Afton Hess leads the MAC with 22 points. Coccia said the defense will be aware of her.
“We won’t change our game plan because of Hess, but we will know where she is on the field,” Coccia said. “We want to frustrate her early on, try to shut her down, and take her out of her game.”
The last two games have been non-conference opponents for the Chippewas to prepare for the remaining MAC schedule, but playing seven games in 16 days can take its toll.
“The last two games have helped us because they were two different styles of play, and we played well with both teams,” Coccia said. “My body got tired, but we are conditioned for this and we knew it was coming, now it’s just about fighting through the rest of the season.”
