Chippewas Kick-off Conference Schedule

Sept. 24, 2002

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MOUNT PLEASANT - The Central Michigan University field hockey team (6-3, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) will begin its quest for a MAC title on Saturday, September 28, by traveling to Muncie, Indiana, to take on Ball State University (4-1, 0-0 MAC) at 1 p.m.

"When you start the MAC season everything gets dialed up 10 times," said head coach Cristy Freese. " Every goal you score is more exciting, every win is more important and every mistake is magnified even more.

"I think that our team is focused because we know we need a win to start the conference off on a good note."

Ball State comes into the contest with a 5-1 mark. It is in the midst of a four-game winning streak after dropping its second game of the season to No. 3 (National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll) Michigan, 5-1.

The Cardinals are coming off a dominating 8-0 victory over Saint Louis University on Sunday and a 1-0 win over Big-Ten foe Indiana on Saturday.

BSU has outscored its opponents by a total of 16-6 this season, including shutout victories over Saint Louis and two over Indiana.

"We are two evenly matched teams," said Freese. "They have beaten their unranked opponents and so have we. The last two times that we played them they were decided by one goal, and I don't expect this game to be any different."

The Cardinals are lead offensively by both junior midfielder Afton Hess and senior forward Allison Haynes. Each have scored four goals this season and have eight points. Two of Haynes goals were game-winners.

BSU backstop Susan McDowell is leading the MAC in goals against average (1.22) and is second in shutouts (2.5). The senior has a 4-1 record and sports a .727 save percentage.

Ball State returns three players this season that were selected to the All-MAC second team last season. Senior midfielders Monika Rhode and Heather Weinhold along with Haynes all earned the honor last season.

The Cardinals were tabbed to finish in fourth place, one spot ahead of CMU, in the MAC preseason coaches poll. They finished last season in fifth place with a 2-8 record in the MAC and 7-11 overall.

Last season, the Chippewas and Cardinals series was hard-fought and exciting. CMU took the first meeting in Muncie, Indiana easily by a score of 3-0.

The second meeting at Kelly/Short Stadium turned into an instant classic. Seventy minutes of play was not nearly enough time to decide this game, so it headed into overtime tied at one. After two scoreless overtime periods, the game needed penalty strokes to decide the outcome. After two sets of strokes, the Chippewas finally emerged victorious, 2-1.

BSU and CMU met one more time, with the stakes higher than before, in the first round of the MAC tournament. The Cardinals outlasted the Chippewas in this game, taking the 1-0 victory in a hard-fought defensive battle.

The Cardinals dominate the all-time series 33-9.

LAST WEEKEND -

Northeastern 3, CMU 1

The Chippewas opened the weekend in Ann Arbor with a 3-1 loss to No. 12 (NFHCA poll) Northeastern on Friday afternoon.

"We played well," Freese said. "It's a tough team. It was 2-1 late in the game and we were putting them under pressure. We just didn't get a goal.

"Our biggest struggle in the game was the weather. We were playing in a downpour. The turf got drenched and then the ball didn't move very well."

The Huskies struck first on a Liane Dixon goal at the 10:51 mark in the first half.

Kristy Reed (South Wales, N.Y./So.) tied the game less than ten minutes later at the 20:37 mark.

Dixon struck again five minutes later with the game-winner. The Huskies added an insurance goal at the 59:33.

The Chippewas were only the second team this season to put points on the board against Huskie goaltender Emily Roy. Northeastern shut out their first three opponents this season before Old Dominion scored two in an overtime loss to the huskies.

CMU 2, Temple 1

CMU closed the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Temple on Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor. "We played good both offensively and defensively," said Freese.

"I was specifically pleased with our penalty corner defense. Temple had nine penalty corners in the second half and our defense came through very well.

"They put us under pressure throughout the second half and our defense withstood the challenge."

The Chippewas jumped out to a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game when Michelle Fogle (Columbus, Ohio/So.) scored her second goal of the season at the 4:05 mark.

The game remained 1-0 until the 59:47 mark when CMU doubled its lead with a goal by Kristy Reed.

The Owls made it interesting, scoring a goal with just under eight minutes to play. But, the Chippewas defense tightened, and held on for their sixth victory of the season.

CMU goaltender Janel Spero (Shoreham, N.Y./Sr.) allowed only one goal and made three saves in the win.

LEADER OF THE MAC - Forward Meg Lewis (Pittsford, N.Y/Sr.) is leading the MAC in two offensive categories. Her six goals put her one goal ahead of Ohio's Elizabeth Hunger for the goals lead. She also holds the top spot in points with 12, one point ahead of 2001 MAC "Newcomer of the Year" Kim Hughes of Louisville.

Goaltender Janel Spero is leading in three of the five goaltender categories. She is tops in minutes (585:23), saves (46) and shutouts (3). Janel was named to the All-MAC second team a year ago.

Spero is also ranked 14th nationally in saves.

The Chippewas offense has scored the most goals in the MAC this season with 19. In second place is Louisville with 17, followed by this weeks opponent, Ball State, with 15.

CMU also leads in the points category and takes second in assists.

OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT - The Chippewas 19 goals through nine games this season is three more than they had at the same time last season.

With CMU's top two scorers from last season not returning scoring, was an area of concern.

Five Chippewas have already topped their goal total from a year ago in the first nine games of this season. Meg Lewis, Kristy Reed, Jocelyn Gates (Lake Villa, Ill.), MichelleFogle and Maria Neiswender (Hummelstown, Pa./Sr.) have all improved their goal totals.

Tarah Trottier (Kitchener, Ont./Jr.) has tied her goal total from last year.

MAC PROMINENCE - Four of the six schools that makeup the MAC field hockey conference were ranked or received votes in this weeks NFHCA poll.

Kent State is at the top of all MAC schools settling into 10th place this week, followed closely by Louisville in the 11th spot.

Ball State and CMU received votes for the top 20. The Cardinals had 13 and the Chippewas grabbed three nods.