Miami University sophomore midfielder Bea Dechant looks to make a pass during the RedHawks’ 4-1 victory over UC Davis. (Ben Taylor | The Miami Student)
The Miami University field hockey team defeated the University of California, Davis 4-1 Tuesday thanks to four goals in the second half.
"I knew that UC Davis was going to be a team that was very hard to beat, and very hard to score against, so we needed a lot of opportunities to score a couple goals," head coach Inako Puzo said. "We created opportunities to score today, but we didn't score more because we had a good team in front of us, who were not willing to give away anything, and our challenge was to be mentally tough enough to remain persistent."
The game was held scoreless through the first half, despite Miami recording 12 shots on goal and eight penalty corners. UC Davis had just two shots on goal in the first half.
"We had to keep believing in each other and believing our press and tactics were going to work out eventually, and we had to just keep shooting on goal," senior goalkeeper Sarah Mueller said.
The RedHawks were finally able to get on the board 44 minutes into the game off of a penalty corner, as junior back Ali Froede found the back of the goal. She later followed it up with another goal off of a similarly executed penalty corner.
"It was just the persistency that paid off, we practice corners day in and day out, I think it is just the repetition that helped us out today," Froede said.
The third and fourth goals of game were scored in the last ten minutes of the game and were split by a UC Davis goal in the 63rd minute.
"In field hockey, a two-goal difference is absolutely nothing, so the third goal was the one that gave us a little bit of a release," Puzo said. "But the first goal gave us the mentality that it can happen and we just have keep working, and keep insisting, and supporting each other, and not giving up because only then will we score."
Overall the RedHawks outshot the Aggies 26-9, and had a 15-3 advantage in penalty corners.
The RedHawks will return to action this weekend as they travel to face Indiana University and No. 8 Penn State University. Both games will be played in Bloomington, Ind. where Miami will play the host school Friday and Penn State Saturday.
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"We are definitely excited to play against big teams, and especially to get revenge on Indiana," Mueller said. "We have to keep playing our game no matter who we play and to keep developing as a cohesive team."
Miami faced Indiana last season, losing 1-0.
The RedHawks have never played against Penn State, but Froede said she is expecting a good game.
"They are definitely going to put up a fight, and I am really excited to bring the team we have against these two top teams because we can really give them a hell of game and put a win on both these games this weekend," Froede said.
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