Field hockey ends skid on road
Patrick SillerEarly goals helped the field hockey team snap its five-game losing streak and come away with two big wins this weekend against Miami and Ball State.
CMU held off a late game rally to defeat the RedHawks 3-2 on Friday. The team then traveled to Indiana to face the Cardinals less than 24 hours later. The Chippewas defeated BSU 3-1.
"These two wins help us out a lot," said coach Cristy Freese. "I think most importantly, they give us confidence as we get into games against Ohio and Kent this weekend"
After jumping to an early
1-0 lead by a goal from senior Samantha Sandham, the RedHawks couldn't get their offense running. CMU maintained the one-goal advantage into halftime.
CMU then added two goals in the second half and held off a late two-goal charge to hang on and defeat Miami, the Mid-American Conference leader.
"We were able to jump on them early and establish a lead," Freese said. "We did some good things against Miami. We were able to get the ball behind their defense and convert it into goals."
Sunday against BSU, Amanda Lucik buried the ball in the net twice in the first six minutes for the Chippewas. That was all the scoring until the 50-minute mark, when Andrea Marais broke away from the Cardinals' defense and stashed the ball in the net for her second goal of the season.
The goal gave the team a 3-0 advantage until BSU's Devanny Kuhn scored the team's lone goal.
In both games, the team received the balance of offense and defense it planned on.
"The defense played well and worked very well with the midfielders and forwards," Sandham said. "Then, on top of that, scoring in the first minute was really big for us."
The two wins this weekend were crucial to the team's shot at winning a MAC Championship. Central now is 3-8 overall and 2-3 in the Mid-American Conference.
"With three losses we have no more room for error, but with three losses we are still OK in the MAC," Freese said. "If we want to win the MAC, we need to win the rest of our games and still get a little bit of help."
With the successful weekend behind it, the team will not have much time to rest up. It travels to Ann Arbor to face Michigan at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
"I always feel like we can hang with Michigan," Freese said. "I think the challenge in that game is for our team is to not make Michigan a better team than what they are."
Last season, the team played a tough game against U-M, then ranked No. 4, but lost 3-2 in overtime.
"We look at them as a good team that will compete hard," Sandham said. "A good game of hockey will come out of it."
sports@cm-life.com
