The 2014 season for MSU field hockey (7-6 overall , 2-3 Big Ten ) has not gone quite like head coach Helen Knull wanted at the start of the season. The Spartans are unranked for the first time this season and coming off a tough weekend of tough losses against Indiana and Ball State.
Looking back to last year, MSU scuffled through the Big Ten schedule and found itself in a tight situation at the end of the year. The Spartans were forced to win the Big Ten Tournament to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament. While they accomplished that goal, it was certainly not a position they wanted to find themselves in again this year. However, with the way things stand in the Big Ten and beyond right now, that might be exactly where they stand.
“Basically, we just have the tournament now to get our goal of making the NCAA and also the Big Ten,” senior back Jenni Smith said. “We just need to win from here on out.
“The season’s nowhere near over. We still have everything ahead of us, so it’s just up to us to do what we have to do.”
The Spartans have been waiting for something to tick and start playing up to their ability. Last weekend could prove to be the turning point, as Knull said it was their worst performance of the year.
“Sunday’s game was all about execution,” Knull said. “We played exceptionally poor and we did not play a solid game at all. And the outcome showed it.
“This past weekend was probably our poorest showing of hockey all year. I was most disappointed by the effort at times wasn’t there, and that’s not what Spartan hockey is all about.”
While last weekend changed the mindset of the Spartans moving forward, all of their preseason goals still lie ahead of them.
“We need to look forward because we’ve got a big weekend coming up,” redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Sierra Patton said. “Not much you can do after you lose besides correct what went wrong and do better.”
MSU currently sits sixth in the Big Ten standings , but three of the five teams ahead of them remain on the schedule for the Spartans. No. 7 Penn State and No. 8 Northwestern travel to East Lansing this weekend, and then MSU travels to Ann Arbor to play the No. 12 Michigan Wolverines.
“Hard work, executing game plan, everybody doing their part,” Knull said when describing what Spartan field hockey should entail. “Now the message shifted a little bit in terms of, we’ve got to take care of each game and right now, our destiny is in our own hands.”
