Central Michigan University Athletics
CMU Hosts MAC Tournament, Opens With MSU
11/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Watch Field Hockey Insider | 2010 MAC Field Hockey Championship Central
MOUNT PLEASANT – Central Michigan (5-13, 3-7 MAC) will host the Mid-American Conference Tournament this week beginning on Thursday. CMU, the No. 4 seed in the field, will open up the tournament when it plays the No. 5 seed, the Missouri State Bears (5-14, 2-8), Thursday at 11 a.m.
The winner of the game between CMU and MSU will play the No. 1 seed, the Kent State Golden Flashes (13-6, 8-2 MAC), on Friday at 11 a.m. in a semifinal matchup, with the winner advancing to the MAC Championship at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
CMU split the two previous games with the Bears this season. Both games were played at Missouri State. They defeated MSU 4-2 on October 16 on the strength of two goals from sophomore midfielder Erin Dye. The Chippewas lost to the Bears 1-0 on October 17.
CMU has an all-time record of 21-11-1 against MSU.
The Chippewas are coming off of a weekend where they split two road matches. They fell to the Miami RedHawks (13-6, 8-2 MAC) by a score of 3-0 on Saturday and defeated the Ball State Cardinals 3-1 on Sunday. Dye scored two goals in the win over BSU and junior goalkeeper Anastasia Netto was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Week for her play over the weekend.
Missouri State is coming into the tournament on a three game losing streak, with losses to Miami, the Ohio Bobcats (11-9, 7-3 MAC) and Kent State. The losses to Miami and to Ohio came in overtime.
The Bears are averaging 1.34 goals per game in MAC play and they have a goals against average (GAA) of 2.97.
CMU has a scoring average of 1.24 and a GAA of 2.57.
MSU is led in goals and points by sophomore forward Kristi O’Connor, who has four goals and nine points. Junior forward Casey Bayliss leads the Bears in shots with 27. Bayless, freshman forward Hillary Lawless and senior back Amanda Miyashita are tied for the team lead in assists with two.
Sophomore Steph Anderson and freshman Andrea Bain have split time at goalkeeper. Each has started five games in MAC play. Anderson has a 2-3 record with a 1.99 GAA and Bain has a 0-5 record with a 3.85 GAA.
Dye leads CMU in goals (five), points (10) and shots (34). Several players – Paulina Lee, Brooke Sihota, Juliana Makrinos, Simone Lazar, Pam Seufert and Amanda von Leer – are tied for the team lead with two assists
Netto has started all but two games this season and has a GAA of 2.59 and a save percentage of .690.
