Field hockey looks to seniors for guidance
Coach Cristy Freese will look to a more experienced field hockey team to lead CMU back to championship contention after a disappointing 6-14 finish last year.
This year's squad features six seniors, compared to one last year, giving the team much more leadership.
"Our success is going to be dependent on our juniors and seniors and those players being able, because of their experience, to do some good things on the field this year," Freese said.
One of those seniors is midfielder Samantha Sandham, who led the team in points last season with 20 and is a three-time All-Mid-American Conference player.
Sandham captained the team with senior Moyra Betuzzi, who finished third on the team in points with 14.
The team also returns junior midfielder Kim Erasmus (13 points) and sophomore midfielder Kim Sihota (8), who finished fourth and fifth in points, respectively.
Freese said she also is happy with the team's six freshmen.
"We've got a talented freshman class," she said. "They give us a lot of athletic ability, a lot of speed. And I really feel that a couple of them will start, or at least have a chance to start."
The team also will return senior midfielder Amanda Lucik, who missed last season because of illness. However, senior forward Kelly Jordan, last year's second-leading scorer, will miss this season because of injury.
The goaltending duties this season will fall upon juniors Melinda Curran and Kahla Schwall.
Last year, Lousie Gencke saw most of the starts in goal, playing in 15 of the team's 20 games and collecting all six of the team's wins. However, the freshman netminder left after one semester for personal reasons.
Schwall started four games last season and finished with a 3.37 goals against average, while Curran started one game and carried a 4.37 GAA.
Freese still is undecided on who will start in goal in the season opener.
The team started 0-6 last season before beating No. 5 ranked Michigan State at home 3-2. The team then won five of its next seven games, but finished the regular season on a five-game losing streak.
The team lost 3-0 in the second round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament to eventual champion Ohio. This year, Freese sees Ohio as the team to beat, but fully expects to contend for a MAC Championship.
"My expectations is that we would be right up there in the top two teams in the conference," she said.
She also sees Miami and Kent State as two other contending teams.
CMU opens the season at home Sept. 5 against Syracuse and plays three of its first four games at home. The only road contest in that span is in Ann Arbor against Stanford.
"I think it's nice because the kids can get settled into classes without hitting the road and being gone for an extended period," she said. "It's always nice to play at home."
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