Miami senior Meredith Corradino moves the ball past a Missouri State defender during Thursday afternoon's first round MAC tournament game.
With just a one goal lead over the No. 6 seeded Missouri State University Bears, the No. 3 seeded Miami University RedHawks field hockey team pulled away with senior Alyssa Nye's second goal of the game, to go up 3-1. The 'Hawks would hold onto the two goal lead, and will play the Kent State Golden Flashes Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
"We played well," Nye said. "I think their team played well too, we just battled through it."
Miami went up by one goal at the 25:09 mark of the first half when Nye punched in the 'Hawks' first goal off the pads of the Bears goaltender. It was Nye's team-leading 10th goal of the season.
Less than 10 minutes later, with time running out in the first half, first-year midfielder Christine Brightwell put the RedHawks up two goals with her fourth score of the season. Junior Teja Kammler added the assist to Brightwell's goal.
"It's exciting; we're all ready and we really wanted to win this game," Brightwell said. "Now it's just time to think about the next game."
After a week of short, intense practices, the Red and White had good execution, out shooting the Bears 33-6, and they worked well as a team to accomplish the win.
"We just had to stay together as a team," Brightwell said. "We get really pumped up and we do a lot of team activities. It's time for MAC, so we just have to get ready in our heads."
Miami was able to keep the ball in the Bears' half of the field, putting on relentless pressure and getting 11 corner shots in the first half alone, compared to giving up just one corner to Missouri State.
The Bears were able to get off just one shot on RedHawk goalie Megan Stengel, who didn't see much action during the first half.
Hoping to break open the game early in the second half, the RedHawks let the Bears strike at the 49:07 mark off an unassisted goal by Melissa Lantz to cut the Miami lead to one.
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Nine minutes later, Nye took a pass from sophomore Maggie Marcum and knocked in her second goal of the game and 11th of the season.
Miami would hold onto the 3-1 lead and end Missouri State's season in Oxford, Ohio.
"I was really pleased with the win today," Head Coach Jill Reeve said. "I think that we started out and we were a little bit tight, but I am glad that they were able to play through that without stumbling."
The RedHawks won't have much time to celebrate as they take on the No. 2 seeded Kent State Golden Flashes, who earned a first-round bye. The game will begin at 2:30 p.m. Friday afternoon at the Miami Turf Field.
On the upper half of the tournament bracket, Central Michigan University beat Ball State University 1-0 to advance to the other semi-final game. The Chippewas will take on the No. 16 Ohio Bobcats who earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Ohio and Central Michigan will play at noon, before the Miami game also Friday afternoon.
The winners of the two semi-final games will meet Saturday at noon at the Turf Field in the MAC Tournament Championship game.
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