Field hockey continues winning ways
The field hockey team will finish with a winning record for the first time since 1996.
CMU is 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the MAC after defeating Northwestern, 3-0, and Ball State, 2-1, this weekend.
The Chippewas are tied with Louisville for first place in the MAC, with four games remaining.
Against Northwestern, the Chippewas outshot the Wildcats 7-2 as senior Janel Spero got her MAC-leading fifth shutout. Senior Allison Foland scored her second goal of the season at 16:16 in the first half.
Senior Jocelyn Gates scored her fifth goal of the season with an assist from junior Tarah Trottier, who later added another goal.
“I think we did a real nice job of pressuring Northwestern,” said Head Coach Cristy Freese. “They have good skills and they couldn’t finish their plays with shots due to the pressure from our defense.”
“It was good to get a come-from-behind victory,” Freese said. “Ball State looked like a top 10 team in the beginning and we didn’t play well early on.”
She said the Chippewas pressure helped them be successful.
“The key to our success was pressuring the other team into mistakes,” Freese said. “In the second half, we got back to our type of game and we were able to shut them down.”
The Chippewas outshot Ball State 9-6, and had the edge in penalty corners 9-4.
“Offensively, we need to work on our passing game, because if we can do that then we will score more,” Freese said. “Our individual defense and our footwork needs to be worked on, if we want to reach our goal of winning the MAC.”
The Chippewas will take a five-game winning streak into a first-place showdown on Friday with Louisville at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. Louisville is responsible for the Chippewas only MAC loss this season.
