Field hockey continues struggle
Brian ManzulloThe field hockey team ended its longest road trip of the season without a single victory.
CMU lost 4-3 to Kent State on Saturday and 4-3 to defending Mid-American Conference champion Ohio on Friday to drop to 0-4 on the road trip and 1-7 on the season.
Slow starts to each game doomed the Chippewas, who found themselves in two-goal deficits in the first half of each loss.
"I really think it was a case of our penalty corner defense," said coach Cristy Freese. "I think we need to make some better adjustments on that. I am very pleased with the way we fought back and played tough."
The Chippewas were trailing 3-2 against the Bobcats when senior Allison Kist deflected a shot from senior Samantha Sandham in the net to tie the game with 4:38 remaining. But Ohio's Rachelle Coetzee's scored on CMU goalkeeper Melinda Curran with 1:36 remaining to preserve the Bobcats' victory.
"I think we played them very well in the field," Freese said. "The difference is that they have a very experienced goalkeeper and for us to get three goals against her was huge."
The Golden Flashes were up 4-2 on Saturday until Sandham put away her second goal of the game to close the gap to one with 5:02 remaining.
Central lost both games despite outshooting Kent State 14-12 and Ohio 15-7.
"It is pretty frustrating," Sandham said. "No one likes to be in this position, but we just have to go and work on putting those shots in the net."
Sandham led the Chippewas with four goals on the weekend and freshman Andrea Marais tallied her first collegiate goal against the Golden Flashes.
The Chippewas fell to 0-3 in the MAC.
"I think right now, we are in position to evaluate what we do well now and what we need to work on," Freese said.
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