2008 Woodie Awards
Field Hockey: Road tests await Minutewomen
Mike Gillmeister, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: Sports
Streaks can either be a blessing or a curse. This weekend, the Massachusetts field hockey team will look to put an end to its winless streaks against Northeastern and Dartmouth.
The Big Green (0-0) host the Minutewomen (1-1) today at 3 p.m. for its season opener. The Huskies (2-0) host UMass on Sunday.
UMass coach Justine Sowry is pleased with her team's progress thus far and expects them to be physically and mentally ready for two games in a three-day period.
"We're just really focusing on what we're trying to do as a team," she said. "We don't have a lot of information on [Dartmouth] so we're just trying to be slick on the ball when we have it. Northeastern is the same; all teams are just trying to iron out their structures so we just have to take care of business on our end."
The Big Green has a three-game home winning streak against the Minutewomen, while the Huskies have a seven-game streak. Sowry and her coaching staff have been using this information all week during practice to motivate the players to go on the road and grind out wins.
Sowry employs an offense centered on bringing the ball up from the backs to the midfielders and using her forwards as scoring threats, as opposed to using the backs solely for defensive purposes.
Most collegiate teams stay away from this strategy because it takes longer to transition the ball to the forwards to get into scoring position. But Sowry compensates for the extra time with speedy players.
The situation in the backfield will be sorted out by Sowry as the season progresses.
"Defensively, that's probably the area that we're still trying to figure things out," Sowry said. "We've got a completely new lineup that is led by [sophomores] Jaime Bourazeris and Jackie Tait. Who joins them is still up for grabs, we're looking at a couple of freshmen there. It's very young when you compare it with the rest of the lines."
The fact that the Minutewomen return their entire midfield line, anchored by senior captains Mary Shea and Erin Parker, also helps Sowry because it's easier to learn the system on the field from a player's perspective rather than a coach's.
The Big Green (0-0) host the Minutewomen (1-1) today at 3 p.m. for its season opener. The Huskies (2-0) host UMass on Sunday.
UMass coach Justine Sowry is pleased with her team's progress thus far and expects them to be physically and mentally ready for two games in a three-day period.
"We're just really focusing on what we're trying to do as a team," she said. "We don't have a lot of information on [Dartmouth] so we're just trying to be slick on the ball when we have it. Northeastern is the same; all teams are just trying to iron out their structures so we just have to take care of business on our end."
The Big Green has a three-game home winning streak against the Minutewomen, while the Huskies have a seven-game streak. Sowry and her coaching staff have been using this information all week during practice to motivate the players to go on the road and grind out wins.
Sowry employs an offense centered on bringing the ball up from the backs to the midfielders and using her forwards as scoring threats, as opposed to using the backs solely for defensive purposes.
Most collegiate teams stay away from this strategy because it takes longer to transition the ball to the forwards to get into scoring position. But Sowry compensates for the extra time with speedy players.
The situation in the backfield will be sorted out by Sowry as the season progresses.
"Defensively, that's probably the area that we're still trying to figure things out," Sowry said. "We've got a completely new lineup that is led by [sophomores] Jaime Bourazeris and Jackie Tait. Who joins them is still up for grabs, we're looking at a couple of freshmen there. It's very young when you compare it with the rest of the lines."
The fact that the Minutewomen return their entire midfield line, anchored by senior captains Mary Shea and Erin Parker, also helps Sowry because it's easier to learn the system on the field from a player's perspective rather than a coach's.
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