Central Michigan University Athletics
Field Hockey Visits Ball State for MAC Opener
9/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Anthony Rizzo, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The beginning of the Mid-American Conference schedule, and a fresh start for the Central Michigan field hockey team.
CMU (1-8) is scheduled to visit Ball State (3-4) on Saturday in the MAC opener for both squads.
The Chippewas are coming off a three-game west-coast trip and it will be their fifth consecutive road game. CMU has been outscored, 20-4, in the four games since a 2-1 win over Virginia Commonwealth. Two of those opponents, Michigan and Stanford, were ranked 17th and eighth, respectively, when they met the Chippewas.
"It's not fun the way we've been losing, so I give (my players) credit because they have stayed focused," CMU coach Cristy Freese said. "They're really working hard on improving their mistakes and that's all we can ask of them.
"It's unrealistic to say we'll go from letting up five to zero goals a game, but lets take it one step at a time. That's really been our focus to clean up some of our positioning mistakes.
"If we clean up our defensive end by a few goals, and score on the other end, then it's a close game. We need to improve on taking advantage of those opportunities."
CMU had its best offensive output of the season Sunday in a 5-3 loss to UC Davis. In the Chippewas' previous eight games, they had scored more than one goal just once (in the win over VCU) and were shut out four times. Freshman Haley Bova scored twice against UC Davis.
Ball State, like CMU, has played a highly competitive schedule ahead of the MAC opener. The Cardinals' last win came on Sept. 6, 2-1 over Colgate, and they have since lost to Syracuse, Ohio State, Indiana and Northwestern by a combined 15-3. Syracuse (11th), Northwestern (14th) and Indiana (20th) are ranked.
"Ball State has played a solid schedule," Freese said. "The biggest part of our game that we're preparing for against Ball State is out-letting out of our defensive end. It's been a problem for us all season.
"This week, we have been trying to recognize some of our approaches to change to create some better opportunities for us against Ball State.
"The bottom line is that we need to clean up our mistakes. If Ball State comes out and is the better team, then fine, but we've seen the mistakes that we've been making and are definitely creating two more goals a game against us."
