No. 21 Miami opens season with pair of losses

Four-time reigning Mid-American Conference (MAC) champion Miami field hockey opened its 2021 regular season with a pair of losses to ranked opponents this weekend.

Saturday, the No. 21 ranked RedHawks fell to No. 6 Connecticut 2-1, and Sunday they were bested by No. 2 Northwestern 6-2. Both games were played on Northwestern’s campus in Evanston, Ill.

UConn opened the scoring Saturday with two goals in the first half. Late in the first quarter, senior Huskie forward Maddie Wray sent the ball across the crease and found Mckenna Sergi, a junior midfielder. Sergi lifted it past Miami junior goalie Isabele Parese for the score.

Then, with five minutes left in the second quarter, junior forward Erica Solomen punched another ball past Parese for the Huskies second goal of the game.

Early in the fourth quarter, Miami sophomore forward Claudia Negrete Garcia scored to cut the RedHawk deficit to one, but that’s where the score would stay.

Northwestern dominated the ‘Hawks Sunday, outshooting them 18-6 en route to their 6-2 victory.

Early in the second quarter, Miami took the first lead of the game. Garcia served a shot on net that Northwestern’s goalie stopped but couldn’t corral. The rebound kicked out to senior midfielder Morgan Sturm, who put it away for the goal.

Northwestern scored four times before Garcia put home a penalty corner about halfway through the third quarter. Northwestern would go on to score two more unanswered goals before the final horn sounded.

The RedHawks return home next weekend for two games. Indiana visits Oxford on Friday, September 3, and Rider University caps off the weekend Saturday. Both games start at 2 p.m. at the Miami Field Hockey Complex.

@jacksmerz

schmelj2@miamioh.edu