With two wins during the weekend, IU field hockey improved to 4-0, tying a program record last set in 2012.
Junior Nicole Volgraf led the team with two goals in a 4-1 win against California (2-2) Friday, and the Hoosiers defeated UC-Davis (1-3) 5-1 Sunday.
Junior Karen Lorite and sophomore Kate Barber each found the back of the net once Friday. Volgraf, who missed all of last season with an injury, tied a career-best with her two goals.
“As horrible as it was being out, it also taught me a whole lot,” she said in a press release Friday. “You don’t take anything out there for granted, and you realize 70 minutes isn’t as tiring or as hard as you think it is. It feels great to be back out on the field with these girls and be back to playing.”
California took the lead early with a goal at the 16:23 mark before four unanswered goals by IU. Volgraf and Lorite each scored by the end of the first period to give the Hoosiers a 2-1 advantage going into halftime.
Audra Heilman, the team’s leading goal-scorer, assisted on Volgraf’s second goal of the game. Heilman finished the game with three assists, tying a personal and program record.
IU Coach Amy Robertson said she told her team at halftime that they needed to defend their home field.
“You should have an advantage at home,” Robertson said in the release. “You’re in your comfort zone. It’s in your wheelhouse.”
Barber scored IU’s final goal of the game in the 59th minute.
On Sunday, five different Hoosiers scored in a 5-1 win.
IU got on the board early with a goal from junior Rachel Stauffer just two minutes in. Then Sydney Supica, also a junior, put the Hoosiers up 2-0.
Robertson said every player is beginning to step into her own role.
“I think they’re working together really well and I think that tends to result in goals being spread across multiple players,” Robertson said in a release Sunday. “You want them to take shots but they also recognize when someone has an open goal.”
UC-Davis’ lone goal of the game came off the foot of Stephie Sabraw in the first period.
Barber, who scored her first career goal in Friday’s game, scored a goal to open the second half. Heilman recorded her Big Ten-leading seventh goal of the season.
Senior goalkeeper Maggie Olson had 11 saves in the win, tying a career high. She has allowed four goals in four games.
Grace Palmieri
