Defense improves in 1-0 win against OU
Patrick SillerOhio's Katelyn Shelley found herself all alone as she advanced toward CMU goaltender Melinda Curran Sunday at the CMU Field Hockey Complex.
But the junior was ready in net and smothered the ball at the top of the circle to keep CMU's 1-0 lead intact midway through the second half. The Chippewas (4-10 overall, 3-4 Mid-American Conference) held on the rest of the way to win their first MAC home game.
"Melinda did a great job on that play," said CMU coach Cristy Freese. "But when a team's leading 1-0, I'm not sure how the other team gets behind them on defense."
It was one of the team's few defensive lapses, as it contained Ohio on eight penalty corners, including one with less than two minutes remaining. The ball hit an Ohio player's foot and CMU regained possession.
CMU's lone goal came from junior Tara Schiltz, who scored 27 minutes, 46 seconds into the game.
Schiltz, who only played defense before this season, poked a pass from freshman Paulina Lee in from the right of the goal. It was Schiltz's first of the season and second of her career.
"I was just on the end line and standing by the goal line," Schiltz said. "I was just trying to stop the ball so we could keep it in play, and it went in."
Freese said the opposition's focus on senior Samantha Sandham, who is tied for third in the MAC with 10 goals, allows other in the offensive circle to have scoring chances. She also said she is pushing Lee, a midfielder, to become more active offensively.
"Paulina has been able to do some good things for us the past three games," she said.
After a 5-2 loss to Kent State on Friday, Freese moved Junior midfielder Amanda Lucik to right back, where she anchored the defensive unit throughout.
"She's an offensive player that has scored a lot of goals in the past couple weeks," Freese said. "Yet today I needed her at right back, and she was able to do that and still come up and get some key corners for us. I think Amanda really helps settle our defense down."
CMU's defense only allowed two shots on goal in the second half, and seven total. Curran finished with two saves.
"In some ways I thought it was a bit of a boring game," Freese said. "Even the emotion of the game was really hard to gauge and maybe that's because you don't have a lot of goals being scored, but I just think our kids just kept playing. They didn't succumb to the nerves of playing in the last five or 10 minutes of a game with a 1-0 lead."
Central plays two of its final three MAC games starting Friday as it travels to Missouri State (6-10, 1-5 MAC). The teams play at 10 a.m. Friday and at noon on Saturday. The Chippewas remain three games behind of MAC-leader Kent State.
"Certainly we came into the weekend wanting two wins," Freese said. "We still have three more MAC games, and we need to build on this win and then get on a roll a little bit."
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