Halfway through what has been a rollercoaster of a season, the Massachusetts field hockey team hopes that coming home for two weekend games can jumpstart another uphill climb.
The Minutewomen (3-5) will square off against Vermont (4-4) on Friday night and No. 19 Albany (5-2) on Sunday afternoon, hoping to put last weekend’s debacle behind them.
UMass failed to score a goal against Maryland and American en route to being swept on back-to-back days. After being outscored 5-0 in what was a draining road trip, this weekend’s home games are a welcomed sight to the team.
“It was a very tiring weekend last weekend with a nine hour bus trip both ways, but we’re really excited about the opportunity this weekend to play a couple of quality opponents and be back at home,” UMass coach Justine Sowry said.
“Both opponents are very tough and they don’t give you much space at all,” she added. “Vermont is reasonably tall and they’re pretty good tacklers so we’re going to have to shift the ball around very well and we like to do that at home so that goes to our advantage. But hopefully we’ll get some open field play and get some return.”
The Minutewomen have focused most of their attention this week in practice on their circle work, including winning penalty corners and trying to create more goal scoring opportunities. Sowry, however, sees the lack of scoring as more of a mental obstacle than anything else.
“It’s getting ourselves into the goal scoring positions and then also having the confidence to have a shot or win a corner,” Sowry said. “Now we’re getting into those positions but having the poise to execute a shot or win a penalty corner is something that comes with practice and repetition and experience. That’s what we’re working on this week.”
That experience is still a work-in-progress, with most of the forward line being underclassmen. Katie Kelly, a senior captain on the forward line, sees these upcoming two games as an opportunity to fix any previous errors.
“We need to come out strong and ready to play,” Kelly said. “With these games, because they’re still non-conference, we need to focus more on what we need to continue to improve on. So these next two games are about correcting the mistakes that we’ve made in the past.”
Kelly and the Minutewomen faced both Vermont and Albany last year on the road and took home a pair of one-goal victories. Sowry expects another tight game from both opponents this time around.
“We’ve defended well against [Albany] but we haven’t necessarily attacked well against them,” Sowry said. “They defend in numbers, very skillful team and it’s very tough to penetrate. So it’s going to be a good game and we’re going to have to have contributors all over the field.”
With UMass working hard on creating goal-scoring opportunities, this weekend presents a significant challenge. The Great Danes feature senior Christine Hoffman, a starter in goal for every Albany game, who is 2-0 with a 2.19 goals against average and a .609 save percentage.
Vermont’s Brooke Crane, a junior goalkeeper, has played every minute in goal this season and boasts a 2.10 GAA and a .778 save percentage with one shutout. With a height of 5’10”, Sowry calls Crane a giant and an aggressive one at that. Still, the Minutewomen want to be the ones to impose their will this weekend, something they’ve had trouble doing recently.
“We’re letting our opponents get the better of us,” Sowry said. “We’ve only played two solid games and that was UConn and Maryland and the rest of them we’ve come out really slow. So to get back home and to work on coming out of the gates quickly is something that we’re trying to do this weekend. But it’s in the pressure of the moment that our team has to make the right decisions.”
Pete Vasquez can be reached at [email protected].
