CMU looks to move above .500 in MAC
The field hockey team looks to surpass the .500 mark in Mid-American Conference play for the first time this season with two games against Missouri State this weekend.
The Chippewas will travel to Springfield, Mo., to face the Bears. The first meeting is at 10 a.m. Saturday and the second match takes place at noon Sunday.
The Bears are a high-scoring team. They rank third in the MAC with 42 goals scored, 13 more than the Chippewas tallied.
"Scoring is one of their strengths," said coach Cristy Freese. "We have scored 29 goals as a team this season, and Missouri State has scored 42 goals. So they have scored goals. However, we have played better defensively than they have."
Of the 42 goals posted by the Bears, 17 came from the stick of junior Melissa Lantz, earning her the top spot in the MAC for goals.
Senior Amanda Lucik will likely find herself face-to-face with Lantz plenty of times this weekend and has a good idea how to defend her.
"I just have to make sure I keep her outside and prevent her from coming inside and (getting) good shots on our goalie," she said. "If I can do that, maybe she will lose some of her confidence.
Freese feels that Lucik has what it takes to lock down the Bears' top offensive player.
"I like the possible match-up against Amanda Lucik," she said. "Amanda can match her for speed, and we need to try to keep her outside and attack her when she is outside the circle with double teams."
CMU is coming off a span of games in which it won three of its last four MAC games. It beat defending conference champion Ohio 1-0 on Sunday.
In some instances, teams feel it can relax after big wins, Freese said, but her team cannot do that against Missouri State.
"One thing I have talked to the team about was about not relaxing," Freese said. "We need to really stay on top of our game; coming off of big wins, teams tend to relax. We cannot do that because we have two tough games this weekend."
Although it would need to win its last three MAC games and have leader Kent State lose its three remaining games, Freese said winning this weekend will propel the team well into the conference tournament.
"If we can come away with two wins this weekend, we set ourselves up in a good position with our last MAC game at home and then heading into the tournament," she said. "I will be very excited with where we have positioned ourselves."
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