Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass field hockey set for road trip starting Wednesday

After two straight home defeats, the No. 7 Massachusetts field hockey team will begin a three-game road trip on Wednesday night when it travels to Boston to take on Northeastern in a non-conference matchup.

Cade Belisle/Daily Collegian

The Minutewomen (7-4) come into the game after losses against New Hampshire and second-ranked Maryland this past weekend, and are looking to get back in the win column.

UMass coach Carla Tagliente said that regardless of how the past two games went, the final two non-conference games are very important.

“These next two games are versus in-region rivals and they carry a lot of weight in terms of what our regional ranking will be,” she said. “Both teams aren’t having their best year in terms of what they have had in the past, but they are two teams that we need to step out and perform well against.”

The Minutewomen come into the game averaging 2.64 goals per game, as well as 14.6 shots per game. This will come as an advantage for UMass as the Huskies (3-6) are on a five-game losing streak, and have given up 13.2 shots per game to their opponents.

Freshman Emmy Zweserijn and senior Lindsay Bennett lead a balanced Northeastern offensive attack.

Tagliente said that her team will need to control the tempo of the game and make sure that there are no surprises when the game begins.

“They tend to play more out of the back and play with extra midfielders at times, so they play with a different style than what we normally see,” Tagliente said. “The challenge for us is that the other team will try and make the game very unpredictable and chaotic at times, so we need to control the game as much as we can without any surprises.”

Tagliente said that one key to the game will be for her team to rest up and come ready to play if they don’t want a repeat of their 4-1 road loss against Connecticut.

“Individual preparedness and being physically and mentally prepared is very important,” Tagliente said. “It’s very challenging for some of these players having to get on the road after a long school day, but if we show up prepared and ready to go, we’ll do fine.”

In the 40 times that these two regional foes have met, UMass leads the all-time series, 19-18-3, and hope to avenge a 4-3 overtime loss last year at home.

The Minutewomen will look to hand the Huskies their third consecutive loss at home in a span of six days, after they fell to No. 6 Boston College 3-0 just two days following their first conference loss to Hofstra, 5-4.

Jason Kates can be reached at [email protected].

 

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