By Mark Emery
Before a season gets underway, many coaches are non-descriptive and coy when it comes to laying out goals. Ohio field hockey coach Neil MacMillan is not one of them.
Coming into the 2011 campaign, MacMillan has very high expectations for his team. Perfection, he maintains, is not some pipe dream.
“I think you have to set your sights as high as you can possibly do so,” MacMillan said.
“For us, that’s win every single game we play.”
To accomplish the feat, plenty of focus and confidence will be in order — along with a little bit of luck.
The Bobcats are set to play 20 games this fall. Before a none-too-easy Mid-American Conference season begins in October, Ohio will face foes such as Temple and American on the road — without the contributions of four players who graduated in June.
“I have tried to schedule pretty hard in the past,” MacMillan said. “I think this year it will turn out to be a pretty tough schedule.
“But you never know until teams start performing and you see where teams are ranked.”
MacMillan also made sure to highlight a date in Columbus against Ohio State, a team that went to the Final Four last year.
“That’s probably the best competition we’ll face over the course of the year,” MacMillan said.
The Bobcats will square off against the Buckeyes on the field hockey pitch Aug. 31.
Once conference play begins, the road doesn’t get much easier for this club.
Kent State and Miami both figure to be successful clubs again this year, and the Bobcats will face each of them twice.
The two clubs both recorded 8-2 conference records in 2010 and won a share of the MAC regular season title. Kent State beat Miami 3-2 in the tournament championship game.
“Kent is always good,” MacMillan said. “They’re very well-organized. … So that will be a tough test.
“Miami will be a little bit of an unknown quantity. They have a new coach (Iñako Puzo). He’s someone that I know who has got a great approach, a very similar approach to my own.”
To achieve the sort of successes Ohio has enjoyed in recent years — it won conference championships in 2009, 2007 and 2006 — MacMillan’s club must be ready to fill the holes left by graduating seniors.
Despite the departure of last year’s goalie Courtney Seiders, the team shouldn’t suffer a lapse this season with Jen McGill in net.
The rising senior has appeared in 13 games throughout her career at Ohio, and in that time has allowed 12 goals. She has 32 saves and recorded a shutout in 2009 against Robert Morris.
Replacements will also be required for Brittany Zorn, Katherine Ballard and Paige Herr.
“You look at the youngsters we have coming up, players who didn’t play much last year will play more this year,” MacMillan said. “Players who played a bit will have more of a significant role."
MacMillan didn't want to single out any potential stars before his team began preseason play, but he did say he expects athleticism to be an advangate moving forward.
“One of the keys to our success over the years has been a very systematic approach to our play,” he said, “and I think it takes a little bit of time to get used to that.
“So with the freshmen coming in, they’ll have to adapt. They’ll have to learn how we play and what we’re trying to do in different situations so that they can be successful.”
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