Field Hockey Gets It Started With Trip To Bellarmine

Friday, March 12

Louisville, Ky.

4 p.m.

Central Michigan University

Bellarmine

3/11/2021 4:01:00 PM | Field Hockey

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Been a minute since coach Catherine Ostoich's Central Michigan field hockey team has played a game.

The Chippewas open the spring, 2021 season with a trip to Louisville, Ky. this weekend to play two nonleague games with Bellarmine. The fall season was wiped out by COVID and Ostoich, who is in her third year in charge of the program, is simply happy to get on the field and play.

"We are grateful for any opportunity that we get," she said. "If that means we get one game, if we get all the games, we're grateful for it."

The Chippewas are slated to play 15 games and the schedule comprises almost exclusively two-game series on back-to-back days. The Chippewas open Mid-American Conference play with two games at Appalachian State March 20-21. Their home-opening series is against league foe Longwood April 2-3.

MAC teams will play 12 conference games. There will be no league tournament.

"You can definitely tell there was a whole different vibe when we got back in January because it was like, 'OK, we are going to play in like two months,'" Ostoich said. "It was a cautious vibe, but very exciting. It was amplified once we got out on the turf and it was, 'OK, now this is really happening.' Now we're really pumped about it.

"I can't tell you how happy the team was on the first day of practice. I think they smiled from start to finish. … We're excited just to be outside. The little things matter a lot more to us than they ever have."

CMU's roster features 14 underclassmen including a pair of key sophomores, midfielders Lauren Buffington and Alice O'Hagan.

O'Hagan led CMU in goals (6) and points (14) in 2019, earning Second Team All-MAC honors; Buffington is the team captain.

"She's taken on the responsibility very well and she's really grown a lot since her freshman year," Ostoich said of Buffington. "It's been wonderful to watch because I've never had a young captain before. The girls have rallied behind her and she's one of those kids who never stops working and she's always trying to pump you up, figure out how to get the best out of you."

Ostoich has shifted O'Hagan to attacking center/mid in an effort to utilize her skill set.

"She's got great skills and she's kind of the backbone of the attacking corners," Ostoich said. "I'm excited to see her at this new position."

The Chippewas return several veteran mainstays, including senior midfielder Taryn Damm, senior forward Callie Quinn, and senior backs Allie Huddleson and Anna Riesenberg.

"Damm has played pretty much every position on the field and it's good to have her for her senior season in the midfield, which is what she does best," Ostoich said. "She's a veteran, she knows how to play, and she's a fighter; she plays until the last whistle blows."

Quinn is among the leader of a relatively young group of forwards.

"She's working with younger people and I think they have really meshed well together and it's kind of grown her confidence," Ostoich said. "She's got phenomenal stick skills and I'm expecting her to have a breakout season where she's scoring or earning a lot of corners for us, making big plays."

Huddleson and Riesenberg anchor a defense in front of freshman goalkeeper Katie Maxim.

"She has a lot of potential," Ostoich said. "I think she just needs to get that first, second game under her belt and I think she's going to be ready to really show what she's made of."

Ostoich said the Chippewas have in-game goals in mind, and the revamped schedule – back-to-back games on consecutive days against a single opponent -- will provide for instant evaluation which will then be put immediately into practice. In a typical season, the Chippewas play on a Friday and then on Sunday against different opponents.

"Go out and play our hardest every game and really implement the points that we've practiced, making sure that we're choosing the point of attack, that when we attack, we're making the most of it, we're getting corner shots," she said. "I think it really boils down to just having fun and playing.

"I really want us to walk away this year with no regrets and be like, 'we played our absolute hardest.' I think there's a lot of times where we walk away from games during a normal season where we're like, 'We could have done this; we should have done that.' And now we have that opportunity this season (for quick feedback) which we don't normally have."