Field Hockey drops two at home

For the field hockey team, having a bad weekend took on a whole new meaning as the Hoosiers were dominated by Ball State 3-0 Friday and dropped a close contest 1-0 to UC Berkeley Sunday. Coach Amy Robertson's squad did show marked improvement Sunday over Friday's drubbing, where IU was outshot and outplayed by the experienced Cardinals.\n"We really focused on ourselves today (Sunday) by taking care of the ball and having good possession," Robertson said. "We were playing with more confidence and using all the space on the field."\nBall State came into Mellencamp Pavilion Friday for their first game of the season focused on revenge since IU scored their first victory in school history over the Cardinals in 2001. If the Cardinals wanted revenge, that's exactly what they got with an overall dominating performance in which the Cardinals outshot IU 22-2 in their three goal victory.\nAlthough Ball State was dominant, it took the Cardinals thirty minutes to finally put one past senior goaltender Molly Pulkrabek. Freshman Merri McKissock passed to sophomore Jen Strodel who beat a diving Pulkrabek for the opening score with 5:07 left in the first half.\nThe relentless Cardinals continued to apply pressure on Pulkrabek and the Hoosier defense. With 1:11 left in the first half, senior Heather Weinhold finally broke through to give BSU a 2-0 halftime lead.\nEven though IU trailed by two, the Hoosiers were fortunate that they were still in the game after being outshot 12-0 in the first stanza. Two big reasons for IU's luck were Pulkrabek and junior back Ginna Irwin.\n"They (Ball State) worked together as a team and gave a fantastic effort," Irwin said. "We weren't connecting as well."\nPulkrabek agrees.\n"I think I could have played a little better," Pulkrabek said. "Our team played really hard, and we played our hearts out. They came ready to play. It is a good learning experience to take away from this game."\nIU came out of intermission more aggressive and determined, but freshman Nikki Orciuch's shot three minutes into the half was stopped by BSU's senior goalie Susan McDowell. Following that save, the Cardinals regained the momentum, and never lost it again.\nBSU ended all hopes for a Hoosier comeback when McKissock took a rebound off a penalty corner and buried it into the back of the net to give the Cardinals an insurance goal and a commanding 3-0 lead.\nRobertson said her team learned a lot from Friday, and felt the squad would be better prepared for Sunday.\n"I thought we played with a lot of intensity today but we didn't open up enough space in the field," Robertson said. "Our structure fell apart a little bit. We just need to fix the little things and that would really help the development into our attack."\nRobertson hoped these new improvements would take affect Sunday versus Berkeley, and she wasn't totally disappointed in an evenly played 1-0 loss. Offensively, the Hoosiers showed improvement in the shot department by outshooting the Golden Bears 15-12, but we're unable to beat sophomore goalie Kelly Knapp, who tallied her fourth straight shutout.\n"I think Kayla Bashore and Erica Nilsson set up some awesome opportunities for the team, but their goalie played really well today," Robertson said. "She was making it very difficult to get it past her, and the times we did get it past her, we didn't finish."\nAfter battling to a scoreless tie in the first half, the Golden Bears were finally able to break through in the second half when senior Michelle Wald beat Pulkrabek with 12:09 left to play.\n"(Wald) went to the side," Pulkrabek said, "I thought I had nothing to do but to go down and try to block it. But she continued to go around me."\nIU did not give up though, and had a flurry of offensive chances in the final ten minutes, but were unable to even the tally.\n"We were right there knockin' on the goal, we just couldn't get one behind em'," Robertson said. "It is the best game that I've seen our team play"