Central Michigan University Athletics
Field Hockey Hosts Missouri State, Michigan
10/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - For Central Michigan field hockey coach Molly Pelowski, it's all about consistency of effort and execution.
The Chippewas (0-12 overall, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) play host to Missouri State (5-9, 2-1) in a league game Friday (3 p.m.) at the CMU Field Hockey Complex. On Sunday (noon), CMU will entertain 14th-ranked Michigan (11-3) in a non-leaguer.
CMU put out one of its best efforts of the season last Sunday in a 4-1 home loss to 20th-ranked Iowa. The game was tied, 1-1, through 50 minutes.
"We played a really good 50 minutes," said Pelowski, who is in her first year as CMU's coach. "I was reviewing the game film afterwards and it was all smiles in the first half and then midway through the second half we stopped moving.
"Passing, off-the-ball movement. We started in the back and we got better at that. Now we've got the midfield involved and now we have to finish the attacking five, so that's what we're focused on this week."
The Chippewas have been relatively competitive in all three of their MAC games. Their most recent was a 1-0 loss to Kent State, which is tied for second place.
"We've strung together bits and pieces along the way of good hockey," Pelowski said. "What I saw against Iowa this past Sunday looked like a very strong team and our passing game was the best it's been. We need to hold that, and build on it, especially with the attacking five."
Missouri State, which is also tied for second place in the MAC, comes into Friday's game on a three-game win streak. All three victories have been shutouts.
"This is going to be an exceptionally hard game," Pelowski said. "We have to play the best game that we've played all season on Friday."
Sunday's game carries special meaning for Pelowski, who was a standout goalkeeper at Michigan, helping lead the Wolverines to four Big Ten regular-season championships. She was a member of Michigan's 2001 national championship team and considers U-M coach Marsha Pankratz a mentor.
The Wolverines, who play at Northwestern in a Big Ten game on Friday, enter the weekend on a five-game win streak. Michigan's losses have come to No. 2 North Carolina, No. 11 Wake Forest, and No. 9 Maryland.
"I'm really excited to coach against Marsha," Pelowski said. "I think she's a great coach, I think Michigan is a great team. We talk on the phone. We talked before I took this job. She's got a lot of energy on the sidelines so I'm very excited to experience going against Marsha."
That said, Pelowski doesn't want her matchup against her former coach to become the focus. She wants her players concentrating on Missouri State.
"I don't think they have any clue, I don't think it even registers on their radar" about Pelowski and her relationship to Michigan and its coach, Pelowski said. "Right now we're so focused on Missouri State and trying to figure out what we're going to accomplish there.
"As a matter of fact I don't even think the girls even acknowledge the fact I went to Michigan. Sometimes I forget, it seems like it was a long time ago, even though it wasn't so long ago."
