Central Michigan University Athletics
Field Hockey Plays Final Road Games Of The Season
10/8/2001 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Oct. 8, 2001
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THE TEAM-The Central Michigan University field hockey team (5-6, 2-3 Mid-American Conference) travels to Louisville, Ky., to take on the University of Louisville (11-2, 4-1 MAC) on Friday, Oct. 12, at 4 p.m. The Chippewas then travel to Oxford, Ohio, to face the University of Miami (2-11, 0-5 MAC) on Saturday, Oct. 13, at 5:30 p.m.
Louisville has cooled off a little since the Chippewas last faced them (a 3-1 loss) on Sept. 23, the Cardinals had their eight-game winning streak broken by Ohio on Sept. 29. They have since won three straight to put them back in contention for the MAC title. Louisville is led by Olivia Neztler who has scored an astounding 13 goals in 13 games this season.
Miami seems to be moving the opposite way in the MAC standings. After winning its first two matches it has lost 11-straight games including all five of its MAC contests. The Redhawks have been outscored 44-7 this season and have been shut out nine times, including a 4-0 loss to CMU on Sept. 21.
Cristy Freese enters her 16th season at the helm of Chippewa field hockey. She owns a 114-170-6 career record and earned MAC "Coach of the Year" laurels in 1987 and in '89. She won the MAC title in 1990 and has guided CMU to the MAC championship game four times.
ROUND 2-"We have finished playing everybody once and we don't feel overmatched by anyone," said head coach Cristy Freese.
"We played tough against Louisville the first time and I know we can play tough against it again. It has one of the best defenses in the league and we need to score more goals to beat it.
"Miami scares me because we beat it, 4-0, before and we have to concentrate and not overlook them. I told our players that Miami has probably improved since the last time and we have to be ready for it."
LAST WEEKEND - The Chippewas lost two MAC games this weekend, slipping them below .500 in MAC play for the first time this season.
On Friday, Central was defeated handily by the MAC-leading Ohio Bobcats, 4-0. Ohio's Liz Holtzman figured in on three of the Bobcats four goals. Bobcat goalie Tara Elliot made seven saves en route to earning the win and a shutout. It was only the second time the Chippewas have been shut out this season.
On Saturday, the Chippewas tried to end the weekend with a victory but fell short against Kent State, 3-1. Kent State struck first, early in the game, and added another goal shortly after halftime to jump out to a 2-0 advantage. Melissa Lazarevski's (Rochester, N.Y./Sr.) goal with 29:57 remaining in the game cut the defecit in half. But, Kent State's Arlette van Cleef scored her second goal of the game with only 4:08 remaining to put the Chippewas away.
Chippewa goalie Janel Spero (Shoreham, N.Y./Jr.) made seven saves and allowed three goals in the loss.
STILL FEELING GOOD - "We came out strong against Ohio," said Freese. "It was only 1-0 at halftime but we just couldn't sustain our intensity the entire game." "Kent State was an exciting game. We scored in the second to make it 2-1 and we had a chance but Kent scored on a breakaway late in the game to end it." "Even though we lost two games we came out of the weekend feeling good, we have a couple things to work on but we are playing close every game."
