Third season shows improvement

As the clock struck midnight on the IU field hockey team's season Friday, a casual observer would look at the Hoosiers 6-13 overall record as unimpressive. But in only its third year, coach Amy Robertson's team has shown vast improvement over her two previous clubs.\nThe team was eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament Friday after being defeated 3-0 by Michigan State Friday in the first round.\nSecond seeded Michigan State (19-2, 6-1 Big Ten) did not waste anytime lighting up the scoreboard as the Spartans scored twice within the first two minutes of the game. First, senior Cynthia Martin found senior Julia Adams waiting at the corner of the cage, and Adams beat senior goalkeeper Molly Pulkrabek to give MSU a quick 1-0 lead.\nOne minute later, sophomore Judi van Haeringen passed to fellow sophomore Jessica Miller off of a penalty corner, and Miller sent one past Pulkrabek to extend the Spartan lead to 2-0. MSU completely dominated the Hoosiers in the first half by out-shooting IU 22-3 and having 13 penalty corners compared to the Hoosiers' two.\nThe Spartans completed their domination by adding an insurance goal with six minutes left in the first half. On their 11th penalty corner of the game, Adams passed to senior Jenny Sanders, who stopped the ball with her stick. Sophomore Annebet Beerman charged and fired to give the Spartans a commanding three-goal halftime lead.\nRobertson said she credits MSU's first half effort and her team's lack of composure in the first half as their downfall.\n"In the first half we would come up with possession and panic a little bit and just hit the ball, which catered to their tempo," Robertson said in a statement.\nThe seventh seeded Hoosiers came out with increased gusto in the second half, but to no avail as MSU's defense suffocated IU's attack. The Hoosiers couldn't find a crack in the Spartans defense as they were shutout for the second time this season against the Spartans. \n"In the second half we decided that we were going to take better care of the ball," Robertson said. "By using up more of the clock and possessing the ball better we were able to gain some control, which gave us some attacking opportunities."\nOne bright spot for the Hoosier's was the play of freshman back Morgan Albini. Albini shifted from defensive back to goalie on the fly to make two defensive saves and keep the contest close.\n"Morgan was at the right place at the right time, playing her role on this team," Robertson said. "She played tough today."\nThe Spartans will advance to Saturday's second round to take on the winner of the Northwestern-Penn State game. The Hoosiers hang up the sticks after drastically improving their record from 1-16 in 2001 to 6-13 in 2002 with one of those wins over Ohio State being the Hoosiers' first Big Ten win.