Oct. 27, 2006

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.. -- After falling behind 2-0 early in the game, the Miami University field hockey team responded with four unanswered goals and cruised to a 4-2 win over Missouri State on Friday afternoon to close out the regular season. The victory moves the RedHawks to 6-4 in conference action, giving the team its most Mid-American Conference victories since going 8-2 in 1996. Miami sits in third place in the league standings, with each of the other five teams in the league having games left to play over the weekend.

Missouri State jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the game was four minutes old on goals by Melissa Millin (2:45) and Ashley Huck (3:30), but Mary Hull (San Diego, Calif.) wasted little time cutting that lead in half as she netted her first of two goals in the contest at the 5:46 mark.

Hull's unassisted tally was followed less than two minutes later by senior Danielle Perrecone's (Carlsbad, Calif.) tenth goal of the year that evened the score, 2-2. On a penalty corner, Perrecone stopped the push-in from junior Alyssa Nye (Bernville, Pa.) and hammered the ball past MSU's Kim Kinsella from the top of the circle.

Junior Taylor Florence (Louisville, Ky.) gave the RedHawks a lead they wouldn't relinquish in the game's 22nd minute when she and Perrecone combined to make the score 3-2. Florence's goal was her sixth of the season, which matcher her career-best total from her sophomore campaign.

Miami remained on the offensive in the second half and its persistence paid off as Hull found the back of the cage for the second time in the game and ninth time this season. Another unassisted tally, it was the final goal of the game as the RedHawks locked things down defensively and cruised to victory.

Sophomore Megan Stengel (Louisville, Ky.) started in goal for the RedHawks, and after allowing two quick goals, rebounded to turn away the only shot she faced over the next 50 minutes until she was lifted in favor of freshman Kelsey Dean (Rye, N.Y.). Dean was sold as she kicked aside all three shots sent her way.

With its regular season completed, Miami waits for the rest of the conference to finish this weekend, before learing its seeding for next week's Mid-American Conference Tournament. The MAC Tournament runs from Nov. 2-4 at Ohio University in a single-elimination format. The top two seeds receive a bye to the semifinals, while the remaining four seeds battle for the remaining two spots.