It was quite a road trip.
The University of Massachusetts field hockey team ended its 17-day drought without playing a game by traveling all the way to Ann Arbor, Michigan (14 hours by bus), in order to take on No. 4 Michigan on Friday and Indiana on Saturday.
When the weekend’s festivities had been settled, UMass [2-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10] got back on the bus with a win and a loss under its belt, dropping a 6-0 decision to the fourth ranked team in the land, before coming back with a convincing 4-1 victory over the Hoosiers.
“It was a pretty successful weekend,” goaltender Ashley Egland said. The sophomore faced an onslaught against Michigan (making 12 saves) before taking it relatively easy against Indiana (no saves and no shots in first half). “Obviously, the first game was very difficult, but I thought we rebounded well.”
Both games pitted outmatched teams against a superior foe and the Minutewomen got to see both sides of the spectrum. Against the Wolverines they got out shot 31-4 and were outplayed in basically all aspects of the game. The tables turned against Indiana [0-5], however, as the Maroon and White dominated its opponents 27-6, won the penalty corner battle 20-5, and generally outclassed the competition.
“We might have played harder against Michigan but we kept it simple [against Indiana],” Ashley Gilbert said.
The freshman notched her first collegiate goal to give her team the 1-0 lead over the Hoosiers with 24:30 remaining in the first half.
Two minutes after Gilbert’s score, senior back Anke Bruemmer stepped up on the penalty corner and blasted one by the stunned Indiana goalie. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, UMass’ leading scorer (six goals) was far from done.
At the 17:48 mark, she converted on another penalty corner, bringing the Minutewomen into the locker room with a 3-0 lead. Stacey Blue and Kaitlyn Byron assisted on the first Bruemmer tally, while Lindsay Abbott and Adrianne Monaco assisted on the second Bruemmer score.
So far this season, coach Patty Shea has continued to switch around the positioning of her players on the penalty corner (with the exception of Bruemmer), in an attempt to find the stability that was there last year with newly graduated midfielders, Patty Robinson and Lucy Koch.
In the second half, Kimberly Nash poked home the Hoosier’s lone goal before Bruemmer put the icing on the cake by tallying an unassisted score with four minutes remaining.
Against the Wolverines [5-2], the Maroon and White got off to a fairly good start, playing the competition close for the majority of the first half. Kristi Gannon scored at the 29:43 mark for Michigan, but UMass kept the Wolverines off the board again until Adrienne Hortillosa drove home a score 17 minutes later.
From that point on the floodgates opened, as Michigan would score another goal in the first half and three more in the second frame to secure the win.
“You can make excuses all you want, but we just weren’t playing our game,” Egland said. “For the first 15 minutes we played great, but then we kind of fell apart.”
“We failed to run for each other,” Gilbert added. “When one person stops running it is a domino effect and everyone’s play lets down. And Michigan never let up the whole game.”
Egland had an especially tough outing, dealing with a shot every two minutes. However, she was able to hold her own, making 12 saves despite the fact that six shots made their way into the back of the cage.
“It is difficult to not get down on yourself when that many goals go in,” Egland said. “But you just have to take the good parts of the game and move on.”
