Indiana field hockey played twice over the weekend against No. 9 Maryland and Ball State University, losing their first match and winning their second.
Indiana opened up the weekend against Maryland looking to put its two-game losing streak against top 10 teams to an end.
In the opening minutes of the game, sophomore forward Jemima Cookson put home the first goal for the Hoosiers off a deflection. But the momentum Indiana gained from that early goal was quickly wiped away over the next 12 minutes of play.
The Terps’ offense answered with four goals of their own and left the first period up 4-1.
The Hoosiers, who rely heavily on their defensive attack, looked out of character in Friday’s matchup.
“We were a little undisciplined on the defensive side,” head coach Kayla Bashore said. “I don't think we did ourselves any favors for some of the goals.”
Maryland would pour in one more goal before the half ended, leading to a half time score of 5-1 in favor of Maryland.
Indiana again came out of the break strong. Junior midfielder Kennedy Reardon scored her first goal of the season to bring the team within three goals.
Bashore said she felt her team played a decent game Friday and was able to generate attacking opportunities in the second half of the game. However, not capitalizing on those attacks kept the Hoosiers from regaining any momentum.
The Terps would add three more goals in the second half to cruise to the finish. The final score was an 8-2 Hoosiers loss despite outshooting Maryland by four shots and earning eight more penalty corners.
“There’s always the score of the game, and you can definitely assess yourself based on the score, but I think at times you have to step back and look at the bigger picture,” Bashore said.
Bashore reminded the team not to place a big emphasis on the loss and to remember positives from the game for the next one.
“Let’s not put all of our identity into this one game, otherwise you can just beat yourself up,” Bashore said. “Just trying to see the good and the things to work on at the same time.”
The Hoosiers would have a chance to wash away that loss against Ball State on Sunday afternoon.
Despite the early success for Indiana on the offensive end, Ball State kept them out of the goal for the first two periods of play, resulting in a halftime score of 0-0.
“In the beginning, we came out pretty flat,” Bashore said. “Credit to (Ball State) them for coming out with an energy that we had to match.”
Through two quarters the Hoosiers outshot the Cardinals 9-1, yet the score was tied.
In the third period, with Indiana deep in Ball State territory, sophomore midfielder Anna Gwiazdzinski scored her second goal of the season giving Indiana a 1-0 lead.
The Hoosiers defense would not allow a single shot for the remaining two periods. The 1-0 victory improved the Hoosiers’ record to 6-4 on the season.
Indiana will get back to business as it plays Big Ten games against Penn State and Rutgers next weekend.
