The downpour started early at the IU Field Hockey Complex Friday and continued well into the second half in Stanford’s 4-1 victory over IU.
Rain poured down on the field as the Hoosiers' losing streak extended to three games.
The Hoosiers, coming off of two defeats in Philadelphia, were overmatched from the start of the match by No. 20 Stanford. The team scored four goals in 42 minutes to pace itself to victory.
“Stanford is a really quality team,” senior Nora Aucker said. “Their forward movement is incredible, and I think that’s something our team can learn from.”
The Hoosiers looked like they may have turned the tide after a 27th minute goal from senior Claire Woods cut the lead to 2-1.
On an ensuing penalty corner, IU had the chance to tie it, but Stanford took the ball back and scored in the 33rd minute.
The Hoosiers were denied on a penalty corner right before the half, another of the fifteen shots that couldn’t find the back of the net.
“Our defense and midfielders are sending great balls to the post, so we’re all trying to crash and have the second effort to get there,” Woods said. “I got lucky. Ciara laid a good ball, and I was there so we’re hoping to finish on more of those in the future.”
After a weekend with little offense, Coach Amanda Janney Misselhorn changed up the formation, attempting to find a spark in the Hoosier attack.
Moving Woods up alongside freshman Hailey Couch and sophomore Rylee Pearson resulted in a score from the frontline, but the new formation is still a work in progress for IU.
“We switched our system today to a 3-4-3 and we’re hoping that will help our backfield,” Janney Misselhorn said. “They had some nice shots and credit to them for scoring some nice goals. I thought our defense played well. We had a lot of nice intercepts. We’re still working out some kinks.”
Stanford was led on offense by sophomore Corinne Zanolli, who after a five goal performance against Ohio on Thursday, added two more to her tally in the victory over the Hoosiers.
Janney Misselhorn compares the performance she saw from Zanolli to the likes of Big Ten Conference talent the Hoosiers will see in conference play.
“That’s a player who’s on her national team,” Janney Misselhorn said. "Elle played some good defense against her. I think we need to just figure out how to double team and shut players like that down.”
Along with the formation change, Janney Misselhorn pulled freshman goalie Shelby Querry in favor of sophomore Sachi Ananias after two early goals.
The two had been impressive in practice and could now see a rotation between the pipes for the near future.
“She’s been a tremendous athlete at practice, working really hard and making some amazing plays at practice,” Janney Misselhorn said. “She and Shelby are such talented goalkeepers and we wanted to see Sachi get some time today.”
Despite the 4-1 defeat to the Cardinal, Aucker takes this as a learning experience.
“Stanford is a really quality team and there’s nothing to hang our heads about, but there’s a lot of stuff we can learn from,” Aucker said. “Hopefully at the end of the season we’re looking back at this game and improving on some of the things we need to improve on.”
The Hoosiers, now 1-4, will be back in action at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the IU Field Hockey Complex against St. Francis to wrap up the Hoosier Invitational.
