Central Michigan University Athletics
2011 Hall of Fame Profile: 1976 Field Hockey Team
9/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Leading up to the Friday, September 30 CMU Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, members of the Class of 2011 will be periodically featured with an article on cmuchippewas.com. Each article will be written by Hall of Fame committee member and former CMU Sports Information Director Don Helinski.
To this day, the Central Michigan University field hockey team's 1976 season is one of the most impressive in school history - in any sport.
Under the direction of first-year head coach Mary Bottaro, the Chippewas went 20-1-1 en route to a fifth-place finish at the Associate for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women National Championships. At the time, the AIAW was equivalent to the NCAA.
CMU was unbeaten in its first 17 matches and its lone loss on the season coming against Virginia in the first round of AIAW nationals.
Amazingly, the Chippewas outscored their opponents 88-14 on the year and recorded 11 shutouts.
"I knew we had tremendous speed," Bottaro said. "It was one of the most athletic teams I've coached. To take advantage of that, we installed a new formation."
CMU went from a 5-3-2 formation with five forwards, three halfbacks and two fullbacks, to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with four forwards, two links (shooters), three halfbacks and one fullback.
"This allowed the players more movement and put more attackers on the front line," Bottaro said. "The players had to use their heads to know when to break for the ball in someone else's zone. It also put a lot of pressure on that one fullback to stop an attacker if they got through. The links position played both offense and defense and they had to have great speed because they played near the forward line but had to get back on defense."
The new formation led to some prolific scoring with CMU posting 10, 12 and 17 goals in its first three games of the season, respectively. And the defense was just as strong with keeper Sue Roegner allowing just six goals in 11 regular season matches.
The Chippewas won the AIAW state championship by not allowing a goal in the three matches. CMU earned a victory in the finals after regulation ended in a scoreless tie but the Chippewas won the tiebreaker based on more penetration time in the other team's zone.
Central also captured the regional title, advancing CMU to nationals for the second straight year.
In the 16-team national tournament held in Wayne, Pa., the Chippewas faced No. 6-seeded Virginia in the first round. CMU suffered its only loss of the season to the eastern team as the Cavaliers posted a 3-1 victory, sending CMU to the losers' bracket.
"We were quite surprised we didn't play well," Bottaro said. "We knew we were facing an eastern team (typically field hockey powers at the time) and we didn't play smart.
"After the game I didn't gather them up and talk to them. I just let them relax and figure out what we did wrong themselves."
The Chippewas bounced back by knocking off Springfield in their next match, another eastern squad and a team they had lost to the previous year at nationals by a 4-0 score.
"According to a forward player, one of their forwards said to us before the game 'We're going to show you how to play this game,'" Bottaro said. "Word got around and our team was fired up.
"The match was tied 3-3 but we won on penetration time. Most of us had never experienced beating an eastern team before. For all my life, including 20 years as a player, the goal was to beat an eastern team. To coach a team that beat an eastern team was so pleasing. The players were amazed at what they could accomplish."
The Chippewas notched two more wins in the tournament to end with a fifth-place finish.
The collection of talent on the team included three players who would end up in the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame as individuals (Donna Provenzola, Karen Karner Michalak and Lu (Schaar) Kandt) along with Coach Bottaro.
Senior Donna Provenzola notched 29 goals that season, which still stands a school record. Pam Byron Cabaniss tallied 17 scores and Karen Karner Michalak added 15 and a team-high six assists.
Roegner posted 11 shutouts in goal.
"The team really came together and made the adjustment to my coaching, which was tough," Bottaro said. "The year before, the players pretty much ran the team themselves. When I came in it was a big change and the players had to decide if mentally they were going to get together. A lot of them were unhappy with me because we moved some players to different positions."
Bottaro was a game official before taking over the CMU coaching role and the previous year she refereed a CMU match. She saw the team wearing all different styles of hats during the match.
"At the first meeting," Bottaro said, "I told them 'I have seen you play and I see you all wear different hats. This year we are all going to wear the same hat or we are not going to wear hats.' At the first practice we had a couple people who didn't buy in right away. I told them we were going to look the same as well as play the same. One player still had a railroad hat on. So I stopped practice and said when this whistle blows, that hat better be on the sidelines or you will. When the whistle blew, she took it off and put it on the bench. It took some time, but we all came together as a team."
For its incredible season and national finish, the 1976 field hockey team is being inducted into the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, Sept. 30, in a ceremony at the CMU Events Center/McGuirk Arena.
The event is free and open to the public beginning at 7 p.m.
The induction class also will be recognized at halftime of the CMU-Northern Illinois football game on Saturday, Oct. 1.
The squad is the third team to ever be inducted into CMU's Hall of Fame.
Joining the 1976 field hockey team in the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2011 are Reggie Allen (football; 1995-98), Eli (Barnes) Beshear (softball; 1996-99); Nicole Bills (gymnastics; 1997-2000), Chris (Cooper) Gaudard (women's track and field/cross country; 1985-89), Greg Richardson (men's track and field; 1996-2000) and John Rollins (wrestling; 1958-61).
