Ohio team to beat in MAC field hockey
The field hockey team begins its Mid-American Conference competition Friday looking to improve upon last year's fourth-place finish.
CMU began its season with two non-conference losses to Syracuse and Stanford this past weekend.
As the team prepares for its game against Miami University, coach Cristy Freese feels confident about her team's preparation.
"We are ready, we have faced two good opponents already," she said. "The teams last weekend had very good offenses and I think that is Miami's strength. Hopefully what the team has learned this weekend will help."
In 2007, Miami finished with 31 goals scored, ranked second only behind back-to-back MAC champion Ohio.
Last season, the team finished with a 4-6 conference record. This year, Freese believes that the team has what it takes to improve.
"I do expect to have a stronger MAC record, I think the most important thing is the experience we can put on the field," she said. "I have seen some really good things out of our team in our first two games, and if we continue to improve we are going to be a good team."
Senior Samantha Sandham said if CMU focuses on the short-term, it eventually will pay off at the end of the season.
"Obviously we want to win a MAC title, but I think we will just take it one game at a time," she said. "The big thing for us is unity. If we step up the unity we will be successful."
Miami is projected to finish second in the MAC, so the match-up against the RedHawks should help CMU see where it measures up against one of the conferences best.
"Miami is a good team, they had a good MAC Tournament last year," Freese said. "Miami feels they have a good group and they can challenge for the conference also so I look at Miami as one of the top teams."
The 2008 coaches' preseason poll projects CMU to finish in fourth place in the six-team conference.
Sandham believes this year's team is a determined to move up in the standings.
"We are confident that we are a good team, we know we are good," Sandham said. "We just need to step up on the day that will be the key for us."
sports@cm-life.com
