Wolverines win gives Hoosiers a No. 3 seed

IU field hockey beat the Michigan Wolverines 4-2 in its last regular season game on Saturday.

The No. 18 Hoosiers (12-5, 4-2) move forward to the Big Ten Tournament on a five-game win streak.

The IU win on Saturday earned them the three seed in the Big Ten tournament from Nov. 5 to 9 in East Lansing, Mich.

“Today, they played confident and capitalized on their opportunities,” IU field hockey coach Amy Robertson said on Saturday.

In the 12th minute, freshman forward Morgan Fleetwood scored a goal just inside the circle on the right side.

Five minutes later, the Wolverines responded with a goal from forward Alicia Mayer off an assist from midfielder Meredith Way.

“I thought we played well as a team and connected with the passes we made, which led to scores,” sophomore back Brenna Moeljadi said.

At the 23rd minute, the Hoosiers scored on an unassisted goal from junior midfielder Kelsey Kiper in the corner of the circle.

Before halftime begun, Michigan scored off a penalty stroke from Way.

Just 54 seconds into the second half, IU scored a goal from a direct shot in the net by Moeljadi off an assist from junior forward Katie Griswold.

Less than five minutes later, the Hoosiers struck again off a goal from sophomore forward Corey Brautigam via an assist from senior forward Haley Funk.

“We played better in the second half because we connected well as a team,” Kiper said.

Four different IU athletes scored the four goals in the game.

“We created good ball movement, and it showed from the four different goals we had,” Robertson said.

IU hasn’t lost since Oct. 9, and it shows in the way the players have worked together as a team.

“We’ve been steadily increasing since our Central Michigan win,” Kiper said.
On Thursday, Indiana plays No. 6 seed Northwestern (12-7, 1-5) at 3:30 p.m.
On Oct. 17, the Hoosiers beat the Wildcats 2-1 in Bloomington.

If IU beats Northwestern, they would play either No. 2 seed Ohio State or No. 7 Penn State on Friday.

“We need to use this momentum and step it up for Big Ten tournament play,” Moeljadi said.