Massachusetts field hockey team coach Carla Tagliente said that her team has nothing to worry about with No. 7 Northeastern  visiting Garber Field on Friday.

“I don’t think we feel any pressure at all,” she said. “All of the pressure is on them to keep a clean record.”

Tagliente bases this on the fact that her team is as experienced as a team can be at this young point in the season.

“The upside to our season so far is that we have faced a lot of different situations and I don’t think you can throw anything at us right now that is going to shock us,” she said.

The Minutewomen (3-3) will also have senior defender Thando Zono back after she missed the past four games for personal reasons, something Tagliente said will give the team  more confidence.

Although she said that her team feels no pressure, she acknowledged that the Huskies (5-0) are a talented group, and that their strikers and midfield, led by senior forward Crystal Poland, are “pretty talented.”

UMass learned just how skillful Poland is last season in its 2-1 overtime loss to Northeastern Sept. 16, when she had an assist on nine shots.

Tagliente said that her players need to make an effort to keep her in check throughout the game.

“We need manage where she is and kind of mark her for the majority of the game,” she said.

After losing their last two games, Tagliente admits that her team has some aspects of their game that needs improvement. They have been working on their set pieces, according to Tagliente,  and plan on making small tweaks from last weekend, but nothing too extreme.

“We have been doing some things really well,” Tagliente said. “But we need to clean up our attack play and take advantage of our opportunities.”

UMass has a chance to gain its confidence back after consecutive losses with its next two games coming against ranked teams, including Friday’s affair with the Huskies.

The Minutewomen have already played four ranked teams this season and Tagliente said these early tests will help prepare her team for Atlantic 10 play.

“These next stretch of games are critically important in terms of who we are playing,” she said.

She also said that her team is ready to be back home and regain home field advantage. Friday’s game against Northeastern will start a six game home stand for UMass at Garber Field.

The Minutewomen have only played one game at Garber Field so far, a loss to Dartmouth on Aug. 31 in disappointing fashion.

“I think we are anxious to get back home and right the ship from what we did here last time on our home field,” Tagliente said.

UMass’ next three games, including Friday’s, have been moved to 4 p.m. because of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s warning about mosquito-born illnesses that may cause an issue for games played at night.

Tagliente said the change in start time shouldn’t affect her team’s play.

“It will be an impact on missing classes and fans getting to the games, but it does not have that much of an impact,” she said.

Matt Levine can be reached at [email protected].