Entering Friday’s contest with the University of California, Davis, Indiana field hockey had a weakness: its goaltending. The Hoosiers were last in the Big Ten in save percentage at 56.9% and gave up the second-most goals against per game at 2.44.
Indiana’s problems in net got worse as sophomore goalkeeper Sadie Canelli — who has started six games this season — had her arm in a sling on the sideline. After giving up five goals against Northwestern on Sept. 26, freshman goalkeeper Kai Killian needed to improve on her performance.
However, Indiana’s defense did not give Killian a chance to redeem herself, as the Hoosiers did not allow a single shot on goal. The Cream and Crimson capitalized on offensive chances — led by sophomore forward Mijntje Hagen’s three goals — to shut out UC Davis 5-0 on Friday.
“We've been working really a lot with our goalkeepers this week,” Indiana head coach Kayla Bashore said postgame. “I think that is giving them confidence, just feeling like they're training well, and they can get out there and lock it down."
Hagen increased her total goals scored this season to five, after she scored one goal against Commonwealth University-Lock Haven on Sept. 12 and Iowa on Sept. 19. The Zeist, Netherlands, native also produced an assist on sophomore forward Charlotte Glasper’s 21st-minute goal. Hagen has a team-high eight assists this year.
“As a team, we worked really hard putting the pressure on them,” Hagen said. “Also finding the spaces, I think that felt really well today. Taking the space, whenever it was free, and recognizing the passing.”
The Hoosiers gave up six penalty corners to UC Davis, but no shots from the Aggies were on net throughout the whole game. UC Davis finished the contest with four total shots. Freshman goalkeeper Addy Collingwood had four saves but could not get a pad on five out of nine shots on goal from Indiana.
The Cream and Crimson gave up their first penalty corner in the sixth minute, and the ball found the back of the net for UC Davis. However, the shot was too high and ruled a no-goal as the ball needed to hit the board at the back of the goal to count.
With the game remaining at 0-0, Indiana got its first shot in the 10th minute, but freshman forward Kiki Oomens’ attempt went wide left. The Hoosiers still retained possession because the ball hit a UC Davis defender’s stick, and freshman forward Molly Stutte capitalized 25 seconds later. Stutte’s fourth goal this season gave Indiana an early 1-0 lead.
“I think every time we've come out to a strong lead, the goal just completely changed our momentum,” Glasper said. “I think we come into the game with a lot of confidence, but the second we score, we're like we're meant to be here.”
The Hoosiers got additional penalty corners in the 11th and 20th minutes, but nothing would come from those chances. Collingwood made a diving save during the second penalty corner but could not find the ball with her blocker in the 21st minute. Transition offense by Indiana got Glasper behind the UC Davis defense, and her shot from in front of the goal gave the Hoosiers a 2-0 advantage.
Indiana came out of halftime by drawing a penalty corner in the 34th minute. Glasper took the corner, and junior midfielder Javi Baeza set up Hagen for her first goal of the game.
The Hoosiers were back on the scoreboard in the 40th minute, as Hagen went left and a reverse shot went past Collingwood to increase Indiana's lead to 4-0.
Indiana was almost back on the scoreboard again in the 43rd minute. The ball ended up in front of the net with no UC Davis player able to clear it out. Stutte was finally able to get a shot off, but Collingwood made a save. The Aggies quickly flipped the field and drew a penalty corner in the 44th minute. However, junior midfielder Ella Franken’s shot went wide.
“I thought we did a good job of being patient and really holding the dangerous (defensive) lines and then working our way forward,” Bashore said. “Sometimes when we're a little bit overeager, we step too far, and then they can play behind us.”
UC Davis attacked to start the fourth quarter, as the Aggies drew four penalty corners in the 49th and 50th minutes, but no shots were on goal.
Indiana had two more penalty corners before the final whistle. In the 52nd minute, Baeza’s shot went wide of the net, but the Hoosiers had a better look in the 57th minute. Hagen scored her third consecutive goal after Glasper took a corner and junior midfielder Inés Garcia Prado set her up to score.
Indiana returns to Big Ten play Oct. 10 at home against Rutgers before going on the road to Oxford, Ohio, to face Miami University on Oct. 13 in the Hoosiers’ last nonconference game.
“We still have so many games ahead of us, and we're in a great position,” Bashore said. “I think that this game was good timing too, just to bounce back from Northwestern and be able to get our feet under us again.”
Follow reporter Sean McAvoy (@sean_mc07 and semcavoy@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana field hockey season.
