SMS likely candidate to fill MAC field hockey vacancy
The Mid-American Conference must add a sixth team to guarantee a Field Hockey NCAA Tournament bid.
Field hockey affiliate Louisville is departing the MAC to join the Big East next season, leaving the MAC with only five teams.
The MAC hands its automatic bid to the winner of the season-ending MAC Tournament.
Southwest Missouri State, located in Springfield, Mo., is a potential candidate to replace Louisville as an affiliate member of the MAC for field hockey.
“We are excited about possibly joining the MAC,” said SMS coach Dawn Porter.
Porter said she hopes it will become official in the next couple of weeks.
“We have been looking for another team for the past six to nine months,” said CMU field hockey coach Cristy Freese. “We are waiting for approval from all of the MAC athletic directors.”
Freese said she thinks the official decision should be made next month.
“We have played a lot of teams from the MAC in our non-conference schedule,” Porter said. “We played Ball State, Miami and Ohio last season.”
The Bears beat Ball State and Ohio last season and lost to Miami University.
Central beat Southwest Missouri State 1-0 in its last meeting in 2002.
SMS is a member of the NorPac Field Hockey Conference. The NorPac has teams from around the country, including California, Pacific and Stanford. Southwest Missouri State had a 3-3 conference record and 11-9 record overall last season.
Pacific won the conference tournament last season, but California is traditionally the conference powerhouse, winning three consecutive conference titles before 2004. California finished the 2004 season ranked No. 17.
“The competition between the conferences should be the same,” Porter said.
Despite being further south than the other MAC teams, SMS will travel less than years past. SMS has had to make one trip a season to California since 2002.
“Obviously, we had to fly out to California,” Porter said. “But, now we can bus to Ohio and up to CMU.”
Louisville is heading to a competitive Big East. Conference champion Connecticut finished the season ranked No. 6 by the STX/National Field Hockey Coaches Poll, and Boston College finished No. 13.
Officials from the Mid-American Conference would not return phone calls to Central Michigan Life.
