New defense key in IU field hockey exhibition game

The IU women’s field hockey team kicked off its season Saturday with a win in a home exhibition game against Louisville.

After two 25-minute periods and two short overtime sessions, the match ended in a 4-4 tie.

Louisville won the first shootout 3-2.

After Louisville scored the first goal of the game, IU freshman Kate Barber scored an unassisted goal to tie the game in the 14th minute of the first half.

“It was exciting,” she said. “I just put my head down and swung.”

IU junior forward Audra Heilman scored the final goal in the sudden victory session to give the Hoosiers the win.

Barber also said the team played strong and was able to keep composure, something IU Coach Amy Robertson emphasized this week leading up to the game.

Defensively, redshirt senior Hannah Boyer was making defensive calls and adjustments throughout the entire game. Boyer was excited about how the team performed with its new defensive scheme.

“We started playing in a new system with four players in the back. We only played three last year,” Boyer said. “It was something new for us, but we had a lot of movement within that system.”

Boyer continued to praise the defensive adjustments from veteran players.

“We are looking to attack more,” she said. “We have some veterans back there, so it’s really nice to have the comfort and experience that we do in the backfield.”

Robertson was very impressed with the depth and performance of the
freshmen.

“I was able to get people in, do their work for seven or eight minutes, sub them out, get someone fresh in, and I felt like we still kept our fluidity of play,” she said. “I thought that for our freshmen playing in their first organized game, they played awesome. They were able to learn from their mistakes quickly.”

One of Robertson’s biggest concerns heading into the Louisville game was how the team would play in transition.

“Our transition was pretty good today,” Robertson said. “We need to be taking free hits a little quicker and get the teams on their back feet a little sooner, but we worked real hard to get back on defense.”

Heading into the first regular season game against Duke this Friday, Robertson said her main concern is working into opposing team’s circles more consistently.

“We need to get into our circle more with possession and earn more corners,” she said. “Today we gave up more than we earned, and we have to turn that equation around. Just being able to get some players ahead at the right times and knowing when to hold the ball are all key.”

Follow reporter Dan Matney on Twitter @Dan_Matney.