Field hockey travels to Iowa for two
The field hockey team will head to Iowa City, Iowa, this weekend and try to keep its offense clicking against a tough defensive opponent.
CMU will go on the road and face No. 6 Iowa on Friday and Boston University on Saturday. CMU heads into the games fresh off a big 7-1 win Sunday against Colgate.
"Winning is always important, the first win of the season is by far the most important," said senior Moyra Betuzzi. "I don't think the score really matters, I think just winning last weekend will give us the confidence and motivation to get through this weekend."
Iowa boasts a defense that has held opponents to only 10 goals in six games, giving the Hawkeyes a 4-2 record, good for third in the Big Ten Conference.
"Iowa is going to be a much better defensive team than Colgate, and they are always a very strong team defensively," said coach Cristy Freese. "They have a very strong defense and the means their games are going to be close, so breaking through against Iowa will be important and more tough than it was against Colgate."
The defense is not the only strength that Iowa has. The Hawkeyes also have scored 21 goals in their first six games. Betuzzi thinks the reasoning for the Hawkeyes' offensive success is their passing abilities.
"We know that they are going to be a fast paced passing team, and we need to just be able to break that up and not get beat individually," she said. "We just need to step up together as a team to contain them and protect the middle."
Last season, CMU lost 3-0 against then-No. 3 Iowa. Betuzzi thinks that this CMU team has the experience now to possibly pull off the upset.
"We were a young team last year," she said. "I think, for us, we are going to have to rely on our experience to get us through. I think experience and not getting into a hole early in the game will be big factors for us this weekend."
The team is used to playing ranked teams as it has already played against Syracuse earlier this season, which was ranked No. 18 at the time.
"It is always difficult to go against ranked teams," Betuzzi said. "I also know that in the past we have won against ranked teams before. We just need to not think about them being ranked but instead just as another opponent."
Last season the team faced eight nationally ranked opponents and even pulled off an upset against then-No. 5 Michigan State.
"I can still remember the feeling of walking out onto the field before Michigan State," Betuzzi said. "We had nothing to lose and that is kind of the same feeling we want to drive off of this weekend."
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