Women's soccer team falls in first 2 conference contests

The IU women’s soccer team lost consecutive games to Northwestern and Wisconsin during the opening weekend of Big Ten play.

Senior defender Leigh Anne Cummings scored her first goal of the season off a corner kick play in the 11th minute Friday against Northwestern, which gave the Hoosiers a 1-0 lead for less than a minute.

Northwestern forward Kate Allen beat an IU defender one-on-one before she took a chip shot at the 10-yard mark, which eventually went past IU senior goalkeeper Lauren Hollandsworth’s fingers and hit the net.

IU coach Mick Lyon substituted just one of his 11 starters in the first half, but his hope for more stability and consistency did not stop Northwestern from updating the score less than 10 minutes after the halftime break.   

The Hoosiers’ backline did not clear the ball threat well, which gave Northwestern midfielder Jill Dunn a chance to take the shot from a centered pass delivered
to her.

Though freshman goalkeeper Shannon Flower made a quick attempt to save, she was not able to catch or reject the low shot that came from the far post.

Cummings, who scored the Hoosiers’ only goal during the weekend, said she was upset about the result.

“We made bad mistakes on the field,” Cummings said. “Our energy level is fine, we just did not finish well.”

IU outshot Northwestern 16-8.

The Hoosiers donned their all-red uniforms in Sunday’s meeting with Wisconsin but were still not able to get a win.

After 90 scoreless minutes, the tension was released one minute after the overtime period started. Wisconsin took advantage of a ball possession, and a high pass by forward Lauren Cochlin passed the touch of the Hoosiers goalkeeper, allowing midfielder Monica Lam-Feist to use an easy shot to end the stretch.

This was the third game of IU’s season that went in to extra time.

IU finished its month-long homestand 2-5-1 and begins a three-game road trip with a contest at Michigan State on Friday.