Chippewas win both home field hockey games this weekend
The Central Michigan field hockey team welcomed Robert Morris to Mount Pleasant in their first-ever matchup by beating the Colonials, 4-1 on Sunday.
“I'm pleased with our team effort, pleased with our offense, which coming off of last year, we know we needed to improve in that area,” CMU head coach Cristy Freese said.
The Chippewas (2-0) finished last in the Mid-American Conference in scoring last season. Freese’s reasoning for the increased scoring is the play of the sophomores, who gained experience on a young squad last season.
CMU scored its first goal in the fourth minute. Junior Erin Dye scored while sliding, which is a move she has relied on in the first two games of the season.
Sophomore Juliana Makrinos scored the following goal in the 38th minute. She also extended the lead to four, 10 minutes later.
Makrinos two-goal output already places her one goal away from the three goals she scored last year.
Freese said Makrinos is not a player that takes many shots, but looks for the tip in.
The third goal of the game was scored by forward Cayleigh Immelmann. In her first two games as a freshman, she has accounted for two goals.
“That’s what I expected her to do," Freese said. "Her personal goal is if you’d ask her what she needs to do, she’d say to score."
Freese also pointed to Immelmann’s underrated passing skills, which are beneficial for the Chippewas plethora of scorers.
Immelmann believes there is room for improvement, despite her early success.
“I think I missed a lot of opportunities," Immelmann said. "I could have done better."
RMU’s lone goal came with three minutes remaining by Branovan Charslie.
Senior goalkeeper Anastasia Netto stopped 66 percent of the shots on goal. In the 44th minute, she gave fans a scare by leaving the net to stop a ball that was being controlled by incoming Colonials.
“Ana’s not fast or quick, she’s not going to beat anyone in a race, but she’s a good goalkeeper,” Freese said. “She had to come out on that ball; it was a good ball to come out on.”
Unlike Friday’s game against Saint Louis, when the Billikens rarely passed the center line, the majority of CMU’s game against Robert Morris occurred between the 25-yard marks.
“We knew we were going to play a tougher opponent in Robert Morris and it was good because are defense needed to be tested,” Freese said. “Defensively overall we played well, but our last five minutes, I didn’t feel we were very focused.”
CMU begins a three-game stretch of road games on Friday in Ann Arbor against Michigan and Bucknell, then the following weekend in Iowa against the Hawkeyes.
“It’s a great start, but our opponents are just going to get tougher and tougher," Freese said. "That’s going to be to me when we’ll know how good we are when are playing against Michigan’s defense"
