Chippewas head into tourney on high note
Senior field hockey player Tarah Trottier wanted her last home game to be a memorable one.
The forward succeeded, scoring two goals to lead CMU to a 3-0 win against Ball State.
“We were really focused coming into the game. We knew we had to show Ball State we were the better team,” she said.
The Chippewas will be the third seed in the MAC Tournament and will play Miami at 2:30 p.m. Friday. Host Kent State won the regular-season title and will have a first-round bye. Louisville also will have a first-round bye after finishing second.
CMU finished the regular season with a 8-10 record and 6-4 in the MAC.
“We did not come out ready to play,” said Ball State coach Annette Payne. “We did not want to win as bad as Central Michigan did.”
Trottier got CMU on the board, scoring on a pass from freshman Erin Dottery at 10:55 of the first half. It was Trottier’s 11th goal of the season.
At 19:07 of the first half, sophomore Erica Takach’s pass was tipped in by Trottier for her 12th goal of the season. Takach would add a goal of her own with less than 10 minutes remaining.
“I thought we played better in the first half,” said CMU coach Cristy Freese. “Our defense was on and played very well.”
Freshman goalkeeper Danielle Frank made nine saves for her second shutout of the season.
“Danielle played really strong, and she took away a lot of shots,” Freese said.
The Chippewas defense shut down Ball State’s Afton Hess. Hess is the MAC’s leading scorer with 16 goals and 40 points.
“That is an awesome way to win,” said senior Allison Foland. “The fact that Afton didn’t even get a shot off was great.”
Trottier finished the regular season as CMU’s leading goal scorer. Her 12 goals ties her for the fifth most goals in CMU history for a season.
“The plan was to score first and then we scored a couple of more times,” Trottier said. “We knew we had to take care of ourselves and we did.”
Foland said she is confident in the way the team is playing.
“Now we stay in the games mentally, and we don’t let up” she said. “We always think of the game as being a 0-0 tie.”
Trottier said the team has to play a complete game in order for CMU to advance in the MAC Tournament.
“We need to work on staying strong,” she said. “We need to keep scoring and still execute in the second half.”
