Field hockey looks to right ship in two weekend games

By Jesse O'Brien | Originally Published: 09/08/11 5:58pm | No comments

After beginning the season 0-4, the MSU field hockey team is looking forward to another shot at improving their record this weekend.

The Spartans will travel to Oxford, Ohio, to take on the Virginia Cavaliers and the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks. The game against Virginia has a special meaning for the Spartans since the Cavaliers have ended their postseason runs the past two years, including a 3-2 overtime loss that kept the Spartans out of the Final Four in 2009.

“For us, It’s a bit of a sour note (with Virginia),” head coach Helen Knull said.

To exact their revenge, Knull said the Spartans would have to create their own opportunities to score and capitalize on them, in addition to working on the transition from offense to defense.

Against Miami (Ohio), Knull said she expects to see another tough game.

“It’s going to be a different looking Miami team, but they’re known to be aggressive and feisty,” she said. “We’ve scouted them. We’re ready for them. We just have to go in and play our hockey.”

Despite the team’s 0-4 record, Knull said it wasn’t quite time to hit the panic button.

“We’re a young (team) right now, so the biggest factor working against us is probably our experience,” she said. “I was telling the girls earlier, it’s still early in the season; we’ve got a long way to go, and there’s a lot that can happen.”

Offensively, freshman Allie Ahern is a young player who has stepped into her own, scoring 2 goals, which ties her with junior Chelsy Coil for team leader.

Knull also said the team played well in the first half of their game against Northeastern last weekend, and she also praised the play of sophomore goalkeeper Molly Cassidy, who tied her personal best in saves in one game, with 14.

For the Spartans, the game against Virginia is almost too perfect of an opportunity to turn their season around. However, despite what their record might indicate, the Spartans’ season won’t come unraveled with another loss.

“I’ve coached and played on teams before where you don’t always start how you’d like to,” Knull said. “But it’s how you finish at the end that’s going to be important.”