Field hockey team regroups for upcoming season
As the summer winds down, the CMU field hockey team has a long to-do list.
Last season, the team got off to a rough start, losing nine of their first 12 games. The team was able to finish strong, winning five of its last six games to end the season 8-13.
CMU was knocked out of the Mid-American Conference tournament with a 2-1 loss against Ohio, which went on to win the tournament.
“We started off slow, but I thought we had a good second half of the season,” said head coach Cristy Freese, who enters her 25th season as head coach. “We had a real good MAC championship and it was something to build from.”
CMU had a MAC-best 12 players who earned sports on the All-Academic Team. The team also finished second in goals allowed (39) and third in goals against average (2.04).
Following the season’s end, the team lost eight players, including both of its goalkeepers and offensive weapon, Kelly Jordan, who lead the team in goals (13), assists (9) and total points (35).
The team recruited 10 freshmen to fill the empty spots on its roster. With such a young crew, success will depend on how long it takes for them to adapt to the Division I level.
“We have a young team, but I think all the younger players will be able to develop fast and the senior players will be able to prepare our team to be ready for the season,” said senior back Kim Sihota.
Freese feels confident that Sihota will be a leader this season, her fourth season as a starter for CMU.
“Kim has been a real strong player in our conference and certainly out best player on the field,” she said. “She’ll be someone we rely on to stabilize our defense.”
Key to success
Freese said the key to winning this year is to have success from one end of the field to the other, which was not the case the past couple seasons.
“Two years ago we had a pretty good offense and our defense was a liability and then last year we had a real strong defense — a first team all conference goalkeeper — and we struggled on the offensive side,” she said.
While the team lost a strong offensive piece in Jordan, they have high hopes for the freshman class, including midfielder Simone Lazar.
The Ontario native was chosen as one of 40 players from Canada to attend the Canadian Junior National Development Camp from Aug. 10 to Aug. 15, before heading to Mount Pleasant to join her teammates for preseason practice.
Even though the team is young, Freese expects them to compete for a MAC title this season.
“We’re a young team, we’ve got a young goalkeeper, but we can’t change that,” she said. “We’re not going to beat teams on our experience and so we need perfect effort and teamwork to be successful.”
The team opens up the season on the road at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 28 against in-state rival Michigan State at the Champions Invitational.
“Our kids love playing Michigan State and we’re always challenged by them,” Freese said. “They’ve had a lot of national success in the past two or three years, but I expect our mindset is going to be that we’ll be up for the challenge.”
