Key Atlantic Sun Road Trip For Lacrosse
4/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Lacrosse
Zach Libby, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- The Central Michigan women's lacrosse team travels this weekend to the state of Georgia for a pair of Atlantic Sun Conference matchups that are critical to the Chippewas' chances of earning a berth in the league tournament.
The Chippewas are 5-7 and sit in seventh place in the conference standings at 1-3. The top six teams earn a berth in the league tournament, which is scheduled to begin May 4 at Kennesaw State.
CMU will take on Kennesaw State (4-9, 2-3) on Friday at 5 p.m., then goes to Mercer (6-8, 3-2) on Sunday at 1 p.m. Kennesaw State sits in sixth place, Mercer in fourth.
The Chippewas close the regular season at home next weekend with league games against Howard (0-11, 0-5) and Old Dominion (11-3, 4-1).
Central Michigan split a pair of games last weekend with the league's two Florida teams, Jacksonville and Stetson. The Chippewas defeated Stetson, 11-10, getting the game-winning goal in overtime after squandering a four-goal lead with under two minutes to play in regulation.
"Our defense at the 59-minute mark should be the same as our defense at the 40-minute mark, 20-minute mark and so on," CMU coach Sara Tisdale said. "Playing not to lose, that's exactly what happened, praying to God that time ran out."
Tisdale said the Chippewas expect a Kennesaw Sate offense that has the capability in shooting with power and has been able to draw a handful of penalties. The Owls are second against conference opponents in free positions opportunities (5-25) and first in success rate (20 percent).
Kennesaw State sophomore attacker Oliva Hokanson ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun in goals with 32. The Owls' offense can be described as a revolving door, Tisdale said.
"Who's cutting? Who's passing? Who's feeding," Tisdale said. "With Olivia, she plays a similar spot as other big-threat players that we've seen throughout the year so we're not going to hyper focus on her."
Tisdale said that controlling draws will be key on Sunday against Mercer, which ranks second in the conference in shots-on-goal percentage. The Bears allow an average of 11.13 goals a game.
Mercer goalkeeping duo of Haleigh Wurzel and Michele Holmes combine to rank first in the conference in both saves (182) and save percentage (.538). The Bears rank second in the Atlantic Sun in ground balls (320), but first in turnovers (284).
For the band of CMU underclassmen, there's an air of enthusiasm surrounding the final regular-season road trip of the season, especially after escaping Stetson with a pivotal victory, which not only aided their standing in the Atlantic Sun, but added another dose of confidence knowing that they have the ability to compete with anyone.
"Looking back, I think if we played up to our potential, we could have beat Stetson pretty handily," Tisdale said. "It shouldn't have been that close of a game. We just need to keep that in mind and hopefully we can get back to playing our level."