MU scores six unanswered to complete comeback

By Sadie Martinez, For The Miami Student

The Miami University women's field hockey team extended its win streak to three games win with a 6-3 comeback win against Ball State University. The RedHawks scored six unanswered to snatch the victory. The win gives the RedHawks the No. 3 seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Ball State (5-11, 1-5 MAC) had a 3-0 lead over the RedHawks (7-11, 4-2 MAC) after roughly 28 minutes of action.

"We shouldn't have gotten ourselves in the situation to be down 3-0," senior back Ali Froede said. "It just shows what kind of team we are and that we have the capability of coming back."

Cardinal senior midfielder/back Bryce Barnes scored the first goal in the fifth minute of the game, giving the Cardinals an early lead. The two following goals came from junior midfielder Bethany Han and freshman forward/midfielder Carley Shannon.

Frode began the comeback by scoring just over 29 minutes into the game.

Junior midfielder Bea Dechant found the back of the net in the 53rd minute to bring the score to 3-2. Miami followed with a third goal from sophomore midfielder/forward Geagy Pritchard.

With 11 minutes left, Miami senior forward/midfielder Valentina Neira and senior back Shannon Regan added goals less than a minute apart to give Miami a 4-3 lead. Neira scored off a penalty corner from Regan.

The RedHawks continued to score in the final minutes of the game, as Pritchard scored a second goal, and freshman midfielder/back Brianna Stahl scored the first goal of her career.

"We are very happy about the comeback," Neira said. "It shows a lot of character, and that we can come back from anything whenever we want to."

Miami has won the MAC Tournament back-to-back years, and are hoping to make it a three-peat this year.

Miami travel to Kent State University to compete in the MAC Tournament as the No. 3 seeded RedHawks face No. 2 seed Kent State 2 p.m. Friday. The winner of the game advance to play the winner of the No. 1 seed Central Michigan University and No. 4 seed Ohio University for the MAC Tournament title 2 p.m. Saturday.