Hoosiers earn spot in NCAA field hockey tourney

The No. 13 Hoosiers (14-6) will play in the NCAA tournament against No. 7 Wake Forest (12-6) on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Wake Forest will play host to the first and second rounds, along with the Final Four at Kenter Stadium on Nov. 20-22.

“We are in a good place now, with a narrow loss to Michigan State, but will play tough on Saturday,” senior back Lucy Ireland said.

IU defeated three ranked opponents during the course of the season – then-No. 14 American in the first week of the regular season, then-No. 13 Louisville on Sept. 6, and then-No. 16 Northwestern in Big Ten play. The team first earned a No. 18 ranking Sept. 8 after upsetting American and Louisville.  

The team struggled in the middle of the season with losses to Miami (Ohio) and Ohio State, causing them to lose their ranking on Sept. 29.

In the last half of the season, IU rebounded in a big way.

The Hoosiers won nine of their last 11 games and advanced to the Big Ten Tournament championship game Sunday, when they lost to No. 6 Michigan State 3-2.

In the first two rounds of the tournament, the team eliminated Northwestern 4-2 on Nov. 5 and Penn State 3-1 on Nov. 6.

“We worked hard throughout the season and look forward to this Saturday’s game,” senior midfielder Meg O’Connell said.

Wake Forest leads the all-time series against IU 6-0.

In their last meeting, the Hoosiers lost to the Demon Deacons 5-2 on Sept. 13 in North Carolina.

“This is a great moment for our program, and we are excited for the tournament,” IU field hockey coach Amy Robertson said.

IU is led by freshman forward Morgan Fleetwood with 15 goals, and she is second in IU’s all-time single-season goals.

The Hoosiers are 1-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to Wake Forest 5-0 in the second round in 2005.

“We will tweak a few things in our game to get ready to play,” Ireland said.