Miami Announces 2012 Schedule
RedHawks have 10 home games, open Aug. 17 vs. Xavier
Miami announced its 2012 schedule Friday and begins the regular season by hosting Xavier Aug. 17.
OXFORD, Ohio – Having recently completed a difficult spring exhibition slate, the Miami University women’s soccer team revealed a challenging 2012 schedule that was announced by head coach Bobby Kramig Friday.
The RedHawks will host 10 home games during the year at Miami Soccer Field and face three teams that made last year’s NCAA Tournament. Miami also takes on six squads in the non-conference portion of its schedule that the ‘Hawks have never played before.
Before beginning the regular season, Miami will take a trip to Virginia for an exhibition match at Radford on Tuesday, Aug. 7 at 7 p.m. The ‘Hawks have never faced the Highlanders, who won the Big South Tournament last year and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The RedHawks open regular-season play at home against local rival Xavier on Friday, Aug. 17 at 5 p.m. Miami is 2-3-0 all-time against the Musketeers, including a 2-1 loss at Xavier last season. Two days later, Miami heads to Indianapolis for a date with IUPUI on Aug. 19. The ‘Hawks have never lost to the Jaguars, going 3-0-0 all-time, including a 4-0 victory in Oxford a year ago.
Big Ten foe Northwestern comes calling the following Friday, Aug. 24, as the Wildcats and RedHawks tangle for the first time ever on the pitch. Northwestern is the first Big Ten team to visit Oxford since Michigan did so early in the 2008 season, which Miami lost, 1-0. That game was also Miami’s last against a Big Ten squad. The RedHawks then travel to Wisconsin for a match-up at Wisconsin-Milwaukee Sunday, Aug. 26. The game will be Miami’s first ever against the Panthers, who won the Horizon League in 2011 and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Ohio State.
Miami only plays one game the following weekend, heading south to Nashville, Tenn. for a contest at Belmont out of the Atlantic Sun on Sunday, Sept. 2, which will be the first meeting between the teams. The RedHawks then return home for a pair of matches on consecutive Fridays. First on Sept. 7, Austin Peay out of the Ohio Valley Conference visits Miami Soccer Field before IPFW comes to Oxford the following week on Sept. 14. It will be the first meetings with either of those teams for Miami.
The ‘Hawks then conclude non-conference play at Indiana State out of the Missouri Valley Conference on Sunday, Sept. 16. The match is a return game from last year when Miami topped the Sycamores, 2-1 in overtime in Oxford, in the only previous meeting between the sides.
“It’s a more challenging schedule (than last year), no doubt about that. However, I like the team we have coming back and I believe we can compete successfully against all of these teams,” Kramig said. “We wanted to more fully test ourselves prior to beginning conference play this year and I believe this schedule does that.”
Miami begins Mid-American Conference play with a pair of home matches, hosting Akron on Friday, Sept. 21 at 4 p.m. before welcoming Buffalo that Sunday, Sept. 23. Ohio and Kent State are the RedHawks’ first road MAC matches of the year the following weekend.
A pair of Michigan squads come to Oxford Oct. 5 and 7 as Western Michigan visits first as part of soccer’s Alumni Weekend while Eastern Michigan then battles Miami two days later on Senior Day. The ‘Hawks play three straight road matches in league play from Oct. 12-19 with defending MAC regular-season and tournament champion Toledo the middle of the three contests.
Regular-season MAC play concludes with two home games for Miami. Bowling Green visits Oxford Sunday, Oct. 21 while Ball State rounds out the 2012 regular season on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 3 p.m.
The MAC Tournament will take place from Oct. 28 to Nov. 4 at campus sites with the top eight teams in the regular season qualifying for the tournament. The top four seeds host the quarterfinals Sunday, Oct. 28 while the highest remaining seed will host the semifinals and championship Nov. 2 and 4 with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which Toledo earned in 2011.
Miami is coming off a 9-8-1 season in which the RedHawks went 4-6-1 in league play and finished ninth in the MAC, missing the conference tournament for the first time since 2003. The ‘Hawks went 1-4 in their recently completed spring exhibition schedule, but faced several NCAA Tournament teams from last year, including Louisville and Kentucky. Miami does return all three of its All-MAC performers from last year however, in first-teamers rising senior and captain Jess Kodiak and rising junior Katy Dolesh while fellow rising junior Kayla Zakrzewski was a second-team recipient. The RedHawks also return nine starters from last year’s team.
RedHawks Close Spring with 3-1 Victory
Zakrzewski, Dolesh, Pleshakov each record goals in win over California (Pa.)
Rising sophomore Hailey Pleshakov scored Miami's third goal Saturday.
OXFORD, Ohio – Playing its final game of the spring season, Miami finished on a strong note, earning a 3-1 win over California (Pa.) Saturday afternoon at Miami Soccer Field. The victory was the RedHawks’ first of the spring exhibition schedule as Miami finished 1-4 against strong competition that included Kentucky and Louisville.
“It’s always good to finish positively. I know it was our only win this spring but I’m not sure that it was the best performance out of our team this spring, however there’s something to be said for being effective,” head coach Bobby Kramig said. “I thought Saturday we did that. We had some things come together that we’ve been working on in the spring.”
Three different RedHawks found the back of the net as rising junior Kayla Zakrzewski (London, Ont.) opened the scoring in the first half. After a ball was played through the box, Zakrzewski went to the far post for the tap-in and a 1-0 lead. She played well in the field after suffering a minor injury earlier in the spring.
Rising junior goalkeeper Madison Ryan (Marietta, Ga.) started the game and played the first half, pitching a shutout, giving the ‘Hawks a 1-0 lead at halftime. As Miami has done all spring, rising sophomore keeper Allison Norenberg (Palatine, Ill.) relieved Ryan at the break and played the second half. Norenberg allowed the Vulcans’ only goal on a long shot from 40 yards out, as she was caught too far off her line and the ball sailed over her head.
The ‘Hawks scored two goals of their own in the final frame, the first of which came off the head of rising junior Katy Dolesh (South Euclid, Ohio), as she finished a cross in the box at the far post. Rising sophomore Hailey Pleshakov (Brighton, Mich.) then notched Miami’s third tally with a solid run behind the defense, where she finished a through ball from rising senior captain Jess Kodiak (Naperville, Ill.).
“I was particularly pleased with Pleshakov’s goal,” Kramig said. “That was something we worked very hard on this week in practice. We found Jess Kodiak with the ball at her feet at the top of the 18 (yard box). Hailey made a terrific run in behind the defense, Kodiak found her with a very nice pass and Hailey did a good job of finishing it off. It’s nice to see practice pay off in the game.”
In addition to the scoring, the match was very physical with lots of fouls and late challenges.
“I thought our kids did a great job of keeping their composure and staying focused on the game and how we want to play rather than complaining about the referees and the physicality of the game,” Kramig said. “They seemed to just put it out of their mind and accepted that’s the way the game’s going to be played and went about their business.”
The RedHawks may not have won many games in the spring but Kramig was pleased with what his team accomplished over the last four weeks.
“Though we didn’t get much in the way of good results this spring, I felt like we got an awful lot accomplished. The things we set out to do in the spring and the things we set out to improve upon, we did improve upon them,” Kramig said. “We played a very difficult schedule — only one team that didn’t make the
NCAA Tournament last year. Playing against good, quality opponents will only serve to make us better in the future.”
Miami’s 2012 fall schedule will be announced in the next few weeks.
Wright State Downs Miami in Spring Action
Dinges scores Miami’s goal in 5-1 loss
Rising sophomore Kelsey Dinges scored Miami's lone goal Sunday.
OXFORD, Ohio – After falling behind, the Miami University women’s soccer team battled back to level the match at 1-1 but Wright State tallied four unanswered goals to take a 5-1 victory Sunday evening at Miami Soccer Field in a spring exhibition. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was postponed due to inclement weather. The RedHawks are now 0-4 during the spring season.
The match was played using three 30-minute periods, as Miami did in one of its other spring games as well, rather than the traditional two 45-minute halves. The Raiders took a 1-0 lead in the opening frame, beating rising sophomore goalkeeper Allison Norenberg.
“I thought we were very disorganized defensively from the outset, which led to problems in the midfield and up front and I’m not sure we ever recovered from that,” head coach Bobby Kramig said. “It got better as the game went on. (Assistant coach) Nate (Lie) did a good job of getting it sorted out and we played better and despite the score, the game did even up, however we were already discombobulated and had some confidence problems but we’ll bounce back. They’re good kids.”
The RedHawks did fight back and pulled even on a goal by rising sophomore Kelsey Dinges in the second stanza to make it 1-1. Just before the midway point of the middle period, however, WSU regained the lead. Norenberg was replaced by rising junior netminder Madison Ryan halfway through the second period, as Ryan played the final 45 minutes of the day.
The Raiders controlled the final frame, tallying three goals on Ryan. Roughly 10 minutes into the third period, WSU was able to steal the ball off of Ryan’s foot for the put-in before slotting two more past Ryan over the final 13 minutes to take the match, 5-1. The ‘Hawks were forced to switch to a three-back defense rather than using four defenders after an injury early in the third period.
“I thought Wright State gave us a real lesson in defending today – individually and in small groups. I thought Wright State brought more energy into the game. That’s what I told our team afterwards, I was disappointed with the level of commitment we showed today,” Kramig said. “Organization and technical things we can work on but none of that means a thing if you’re not going to bring a competitive attitude and make it happen.“
Miami started to generate more chances later in the game, coming close on a few headers and some hard drives, but was unable to dent Wright State’s lead.
“We’re very thin right now. We’ve had some girls that haven’t practiced this week and are a bit under the weather. It’s the end of the spring and we’re running a little short on numbers and it showed up today,” Kramig said. “We didn’t have a lot of depth to begin with. I know we’re a better team than we showed today, so I’m not concerned about that. I am concerned that our team is capable of playing better than it is and we’re not performing.”
The RedHawks look to bounce back when they complete their spring season Saturday, April 21 by hosting California (Pa.) at 3 p.m. at Miami Soccer Field.
“We’re playing a lot of players who didn’t see a lot of time in the fall and they need to make sure to take advantage of the opportunity,” Kramig noted.
Miami Drops Tough Spring Game at Kentucky
RedHawks fall, 2-1; Dolesh scores Miami’s goal
Rising junior Katy Dolesh scored Miami's goal Tuesday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a disappointing outing a week ago, the Miami University women’s soccer team responded with a strong showing against a tough Kentucky team Tuesday night at the UK Soccer Complex, but still fell, 2-1, in spring exhibition action. The RedHawks are now 0-3 in spring action, all against teams from the state of Kentucky, falling at Louisville, 3-1, and Northern Kentucky, 3-0, last Wednesday.
“We played considerably better than we did last week (vs. Northern Kentucky) so I was pleased with that,” head coach Bobby Kramig said. “Kentucky’s a pretty good team, probably in the top 20. We were a bit in over our head but I was pleased with the composure and competitiveness that we showed and our willingness to go out and play our game. I think the goal today was to get back to being ourselves, which we got away from last week and it cost us.”
Miami continued its spring goalkeeper rotation as rising junior Madison Ryan started the game and played the first half before rising sophomore Allison Norenberg took over in the second half. The Wildcats scored both their goals on Ryan, with the first coming just five minutes into the contest. Kentucky then doubled its lead with 10 minutes remaining in the opening half to take a 2-0 advantage into halftime.
“When we came up at halftime, there was one thing that was causing us problems defensively and in the midfield and we got that fixed and it changed the game completely,” Kramig said. “We had more of the play in the second half and scored a good goal, so I was happy with how the team responded at halftime and really pleased with the way we rallied and played in the second half.”
Just 15 minutes into the second stanza, the RedHawks got on the board as rising junior Katy Dolesh scored to make it a 2-1 game. Dolesh made a strong run through the midfield and received a pass from classmate Sydney Busch that she finished with a hard shot to cut the deficit in half.
“That was one of the things we didn’t do last week was our commitment to getting in behind defenses,” Kramig noted. “Last week, we were quite content to play in front of them and tonight we did a much better job of getting behind them.”
Norenberg kept Kentucky off the scoreboard in the second half but Miami was unable to find the equalizer and fell, 2-1.
“It was a good effort on our kids’ part. Certainly, I think we can take some confidence from this and carry it over into the Wright State game Saturday,” Kramig said.
The RedHawks play their first home game of the spring season Saturday when they host Wright State at 1 p.m. at the Miami Soccer Field.
Miami Topped by NKU in Spring Exhibition
RedHawks fall, 3-0, to Norse
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Using a revamped lineup and a new system, the Miami University women’s soccer team battled Northern Kentucky Wednesday night but fell, 3-0, as the RedHawks couldn’t get their offense going at NKU Soccer Stadium in its second spring exhibition of the season. Miami dropped its first spring game to Louisville, 3-1, last Saturday.
“It was a bit of a strange game really. We were doing a lot of experimenting. We experimented with a new system of play and some players playing some unusual spots,” head coach Bobby Kramig said. “And this is what spring is for, for these types of experiments, however it did not turn out well and proved to not be an appropriate way for our particular players to play.”
The game was played using three 30-minute periods rather than the traditional two 45-minute halves. The first period was scoreless but was played almost entirely in the NKU defensive third as the Norse crossed midfield just twice. However, NKU had almost its entire team back on defense, limiting space and making it tough for the ‘Hawks to create scoring chances.
In the second period, Miami tried to open the game up but the Norse took advantage, scoring first midway through the second stanza. The RedHawks turned the ball over at the top of the box on a sloppy pass, giving NKU an open look at goal to make it 1-0. Northern Kentucky made it 2-0 with about five minutes left in the middle frame off a free kick. After sending a long ball in over Miami’s wall, the ‘Hawks were unable to clear and the Norse cleaned up the bouncing ball into the net.
“We tried to make some adjustments at the first break to open the game a bit and it laid us open to some counter attacks that we paid for,” Kramig noted.
Rising sophomore goalkeeper Allison Norenberg (Palatine, Ill.) played the first 45 minutes in net, allowing the first goal, before being replaced by rising junior netminder Madison Ryan (Marietta, Ga.) shortly after NKU’s first goal in the second period. Ryan played the rest of the match in goal, conceding two tallies as the Norse finished the scoring in the final frame on a counter attack to make it 3-0 after the game had opened up considerably.
“I was disappointed. I knew going into the game we were going to be asking a lot of our backs. Expectations defensively weren’t real high. That said, I do believe we’re capable of doing better in the back,” Kramig said. “The thing that was most disappointing to me was the lack of production offensively. We played far too many square balls and we were too content to play in front of them instead of trying to get behind them.”
The RedHawks started to generate chances in the third period but it was too little, too late as Miami dropped the 3-0 decision.
“They were physical with us but we didn’t do the things we needed to. We need to get players running forward out of the midfield and we need our forwards to do a better job of finishing,” Kramig said. “We were set up to attack against NKU but we were very timid in our approach. We got away from the things that define us and need to get back to being ourselves.”
Miami looks to right the ship Tuesday when it travels to Lexington, Ky. for an exhibition match against the Kentucky Wildcats at 7 p.m.
