IU knew that No. 9 Minnesota would pose a stiff challenge on Friday night at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
The Hoosiers would need to take advantage of each offensive opportunity presented to them if they were to score an upset victory. However, IU was unable to record a shot on target until the 90th minute of the match.
By that time, Minnesota had converted three of their eight shots on goal into points. A first half headed goal from freshman defender Nikki Albrecht paced the Golden Gophers to a 3-0 victory over the Hoosiers.
“We knew we were going to get three or four chances to score,” IU Coach Amy Berbary said. “That’s all you are going to get against these teams.”
Minnesota was limited to only a handful of chances in the first half, but was able to cash-in just before halftime. A corner kick taken by senior midfielder Josee Stiever met the head of Albrecht in the 43rd minute to open the scoring for the visitors.
Albrecht was left unmarked in the penalty box prior to the corner kick. IU freshman goalkeeper Sarah L’Hommedieu made an effort to come out of her goalmouth to try and reach the cross, but she arrived too late.
“I thought we did what we needed to do in the first half until we made the vital mistake of leaving a player all alone,” Berbary said. “When you do that against a top-10 team, they’re going to punish you for it.”
Part of the reason why the Golden Gophers were kept at bay in the first half was the play of IU junior midfielder Kayla Smith. Smith provided energy for the Hoosiers in the middle of the pitch, making several key tackles in order to help slow down a fast-paced Golden Gopher attack.
Offensively, Smith had IU’s only real scoring chance of the opening 45 minutes. Freshman defender Meghan Scott sent a cross into the Minnesota penalty area that Smith was only able to redirect wide of goal with a diving effort.
“Kayla was everywhere for us in the first half,” Berbary said. “A game like this is going to be a ton of 50-50 balls. We have to fight and grit for those. That’s what she was doing.”
The strong defensive organization maintained by IU began to fall apart after the second half began.
Sophomore forward April Bockin doubled Minnesota’s lead in the 65th minute with a thunderous shot from the top of the 18-yard box. Bockin latched onto a loose ball and fired it into the bottom left corner of the net for her sixth goal of the season.
Junior forward Sydney Squires capped the win with both her third goal of the season and Minnesota’s third of the night in the 78th minute. Minnesota (8-2-1) remains undefeated in Big Ten play with a 2-0-1 record following the win.
IU drops to 4-6-1 overall with a 1-2 mark in conference play after its fifth defeat in seven matches.
Senior defender Marissa Borschke knows the importance of each conference match for IU, in particular Sunday’s game against Wisconsin (4-3-4) who has a 1-1-1 record in the Big Ten.
“Amy says all the time to just have a short-term memory,” Borschke said. “We have to forget about what happened today, learn from it tomorrow at practice and bring the same energy and positivity into Sunday.”
