Spartans shut out CMU
It’s hard to score when a team only musters three shots on goal.
That was the case for the field hockey team Thursday in its 3-0 loss to Michigan State.
CMU recorded two shots in each half and had only three penalty corners.
“MSU is a better defensive team then they have been in the past,” said CMU coach Cristy Freese. “We couldn’t get anything going on offense, our inexperience really showed.
“MSU made some good adjustments at the half and was able to get more scoring opportunities in the second half.”
The first half was scoreless, with neither team taking a shot until the 20:13 mark. The only solid scoring opportunity of the half came when MSU rattled off three quick shots on CMU goalkeeper junior Danielle Frank, but failed to score.
CMU didn’t record its first shot until 26 minutes into the first half.
“Our defense played really great in the first half,” Frank said. “The defense played a great all-around game, except for a short period in the second half. Our offense didn’t play very well in the first half,it needed to create more scoring opportunities.”
The Spartans’ leading scorer senior Michelle Huynh-Ba opened the scoring with her eighth goal of the season at 31:48 of the second half.
Nearly five minutes later, Huynh-Ba scored her second goal of the game.
Freese installed a new defensive strategy against MSU. The defense was impressive for the entire game, except for the 11 minute stretch when MSU scored all of its goals.
“We executed the defense well, except on the goals,” Freese said. “We allowed those goals because our defense moved based on MSU’s players movements, when they should have reacted to the ball. Hopefully we will execute it better against Ohio State.”
The field hockey team will have another opportunity to prove itself against the nation’s elite when it faces No. 9 Ohio State Sunday.
“Typically when we play them it can be a high scoring contest,” Freese said. “They have the ability to score a lot of goals, but we also have a goal scoring team too. It will be an interesting game to see.”
