‘Lack of trust’ leads to 3-2 loss at home to Miami

After a win against Michigan last Sunday, IU coach Amy Robertson said the Hoosiers were peaking at the right time. While the IU field hockey team might be near its prime, there are still a few bumps along the way. The Hoosiers (7-7, 1-3) lost to Miami (Ohio) 3-2 Friday,continuing a trend of inconsistency from game to game. Since Oct. 3, IU has alternated wins and losses in its last five games. “We were missing something today,” Robertson said after the home loss. “There was a lack of trust, and we didn’t handle pressure well.”

Field hockey looks to use confidence boost against Redhawks

1st conference win, home win come in 2-1 defeat of Michigan

With two goals in the second half and a defensive effort not seen in previous Big Ten conference games, the IU field hockey team defeated Michigan 2-1 Sunday afternoon in Bloomington. Junior midfielder Meg O’Connell deflected a shot from senior back Dani Castro into the goal midway through the second half to tie the game 1-1. Junior forward Alina Valenti added a goal with eight minutes remaining in the game to give IU (7-6, 1-3) a lead it would not relinquish. “We fought and scratched and clawed our way in that game, and we never gave up,” IU coach Amy Robertson said. “The key element today was our communication. It was really strong on defense and on attack. It was just a full team effort.”

WEB ONLY: Field hockey team searches for 'spark'

Michigan road trip yields win, loss for Hoosiers

Halfway through season, field hockey coach gives team ‘B’ on midterm

With nine games down and at least nine to go, IU field hockey coach Amy Robertson gave a simple midterm assessment of her team.

No. 6 Iowa overpowers IU field hockey team

Last November, Iowa ended IU’s season with an 8-2 victory in the Big Ten Tournament. In the Hoosiers’ first chance for revenge this season, it was more of the same. The No. 6 Hawkeyes (7-2) overpowered IU (5-4) with a 6-1 victory Friday afternoon at the IU Field Hockey Field. The Hoosiers played on their heels most of the day with only one shot on goal in the first 52 minutes. By the time sophomore Lena Grote scored IU’s lone goal in the 60th minute, Iowa was on cruise control with six scores of their own.

Back home again in Bloomington

Funk keys road win for Hoosiers; No. 6 Iowa comes next

Junior forward Haley Funk is not used to playing on a fast, dry pitch. But when the IU field hockey team was desperate for a score, Funk used the dry turf and bouncy ball to her advantage. She scored a goal early in the second half to help lead IU (5-3) to a 2-0 victory over Ball State (1-7) Saturday in Muncie.

Hoosiers looking to build momentum from recent losses

Despite two losses this past weekend, the IU field hockey players do not want to talk about a rebound. In fact, senior Danitra Castro feels just the opposite about close losses to Ohio and now-No. 1 Wake Forest.

Langer, Hoosiers open season on high note at home

Hoosier homecoming this weekend in North Carolina

IU hockey club nets 2 postseason awards

IU senior forward and team captain Dan Karlander was a month removed from his team’s surprising run to the national championship when he received another pleasant surprise this week. \nThe American Collegiate Hockey Association named Karlander the national Division II Most Valuable Player on Sunday. His accomplishments this season include being named to the All-Tournament first team during the ACHA National Championship and leading IU in scoring for the third consecutive year. \nKarlander moved into second place all-time for IU hockey in scoring, finishing his career with 231 points. He scored 67 points this season.\n“It’s definitely an honor,” Karlander said. “I didn’t really think that I was going to get it. I was hoping to get first team All-American, but to get (Most Valuable Player) was definitely exciting. Having been playing hockey for 19 years, it’s something kind of rewarding after all the hours and all I’ve put into it.”\nKarlander credited his teammates for their support and said he would have preferred to have gotten the national championship but said this year was the most exciting he’s had playing hockey. Along with the team’s run, Karlander also played with the ACHA Division II’s Select Team that traveled across Europe during winter break.\n“For this year, that trip we made to Florida for the tournament I believe was the most fun I’ve ever had on a hockey trip,” he said. “It was something that I was proud of and that’s definitely what I want to take away from this season.”\nAlong with earning the MVP award, Karlander was named a first team academic All-American. \nKarlander was not the only IU player to be honored this week. \nSenior defenseman Matt Henderson was named to the Southeast Regional’s first team after his first year playing defense. After 15 years of playing forward, Henderson switched positions at the beginning of the season to help out the team. The switch also improved his own play, coming off last season when he only scored two points.\n“It’s always nice to get noticed,” Henderson said. “But first and foremost, without the team and without my defensive partner (senior) Brad Kirchner and everyone else out there, I wouldn’t have had the year I had.”

Nittany Lions feast on IU, team sees record fall to 7-23

In the buildup to the Big Ten Network’s inaugural softball broadcast, televising the game between IU (7-23) and Penn State (25-10) Sunday, the Hoosiers were anxious to show the nation what they are all about.\nAfter No. 6 Michigan defeated the Hoosiers on Friday and Saturday, IU’s eyes were set to prey on the Nittany Lions in Sunday’s doubleheader. \nThe first pitch of the doubleheader was scheduled for 10:36 a.m., but the skies opened up, causing a three-hour rain delay. After the stormy weather disappeared and the grounds crew worked diligently on the field, Penn State devoured IU in both contests, 7-1 and 6-1. \nPitching was the signature element for Penn State on Sunday, as the Nittany Lions held IU’s offense to only six hits altogether, three in each game. As a result, IU scored only two runs as 13 Hoosier runners were left on base.\nIn the first game, Penn State surged behind pitcher Ashley Esparza, who struck out seven batters from the mound and only gave up three hits.\n“We are really capable of hitting that kind of pitching,” IU coach Stacey Phillips said. “Penn State traveled from West Lafayette and played very well here, but we didn’t adjust to their stuff out there.” \nPenn State presented inevitable obstacles for Phillips’ team by capitalizing on IU’s fielding mishaps.\nMonica Wright, the junior pitcher on the Hoosiers’ staff, allowed eight hits amounting to seven runs in game one. Freshman pitcher Sara Olson, who pitched all of game two, gave up all Penn State’s six scored runs and 10 walks but recorded a season-high six strikeouts. \n“(Penn State) came to take somebody down, and we were the ones,” Phillips said. “They came in hungry and their players really did a nice job.”\nThe second game of the Big Ten clash turned out to be the icing on the cake for the Nittany Lions, which saw pitcher Jackie Hill nearly throw a no-hitter. IU senior first baseman Tory Yamaguchi broke the ice in the bottom of the sixth inning belting her 36th career home run over the left field fence. The solo shot was her 91st career RBI, which is sixth all-time in the IU softball record books. \nAs one of the team captains, Yamaguchi said the weather was a huge element that the team couldn’t overcome. \n“It was a long day and mentally strenuous for us,” Yamaguchi said. “We pulled the tarp about six times today and we just came out flat.”\nPenn State’s play and the miserable weather deteriorated IU on all fronts of the game, but the Hoosiers don’t believe a drought is in the forecast in the near future. Sophomore left fielder Kelli Ritchison said the Hoosiers are going to remain optimistic and will learn from their mistakes. \n“We’re going to keep practicing hard and get better each and every day,” Ritchison said. “We’re going to come out strong on Tuesday against Kentucky and turn these outcomes around.”

No. 21 Hoosiers ‘overachieve,’ place in Ohio 10th in NCAA Championships

IU coach Ray Looze calls it “overachieving.” For the women’s swimming and diving team, that might be an understatement.\nThe No. 21 Hoosiers – who opened the season 1-4 in dual meets and fell out of the top 25 – finished their season this past weekend with a 10th-place finish at the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio. The team finished with 128 points, the second-most points scored at the NCAA meet in school history. \nLooze, who is in his 11th season with the Hoosiers, said this is the most he’s ever seen a team improve throughout a season.\n“It was people just getting the most out of themselves,” he said. “They were overachieving, having a great time and just really poised under great pressure. They were having such a great time, I don’t know if they felt that pressure.”\nSophomore transfer Kate Zubkova, who became eligible this semester, earned All-America honors in all five events in which she competed and was instrumental in the Hoosiers’ top-10 finish over the weekend.\nShe almost became the first Hoosier ever to claim an individual NCAA title, finishing second in the 200-yard backstroke Saturday with a school-record time of 1:53.17. That time eclipsed her previous mark of 1:53.62 at the Big Ten Championships last month. \nOn Friday, Zubkova finished third in the 100-yard backstroke and sophomore Presley Bard finished seventh. It was the first time in school history that two swimmers advanced to the championship final in the same event. Bard’s qualifying time of 53.33 was a personal best.\nThe relay team of Zubkova, Bard, junior Sarah Stockwell and sophomore Donna Smailis also contributed to the scoring, earning All-America honors in the 200-yard and 400-yard medley relays. The relay team finished sixth and eighth in those events, respectively. This year’s finish was the best ever for the Hoosiers in the 200-yard medley relay, bettering their 11th-place finishes in 1981 and 1982. \nIn her final event, Zubkova earned a surprising 16th-place finish and All-America honors in the 100-yard butterfly.\n“I am really happy with my finishes and I?was really happy with my time in the 200 back(stroke),” Zubkova said in a statement. “I wasn’t really happy with my time in the 100 back, but third place isn’t too bad. I am looking forward to next year already.”\nLooze was impressed with Zubkova’s all-around performance, citing her finish in the 100-yard butterfly as an example of his team picking up points from all across the board.\n“She just did a fantastic job,” he said. “She definitely got tired, but it was a new experience for her. I obviously couldn’t be more proud of her or this team.”\nBefore the meet, Looze said his goal was to finish higher than last year’s 11th-place finish. He qualified the statement because last year’s squad, as Big Ten champions, was expected to do well at the end of the year meet.\n“It’s just great to be top 10,” Looze said. “Not a lot of people thought we could do that.”

More than bragging rights: Swim team looks to improve in NCAAs

When the women’s and men’s swimming teams practice together, it’s the men that normally have the bragging rights. The men have the history, the banners and the name recognition to back it up – including 79 individual National Champions.\nBut when the women’s team outperforms the men’s, the women let the guys know about it. Having qualified more swimmers (eight) to the NCAA Championships, it’s the women who are bragging this week. \n“The boys always have more than us,” sophomore Donna Smailis said. “So it’s cool we have more than the boys.”\nSmailis is one of several Hoosiers with specific goals in mind at the meet that begins today at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio, and runs through Saturday. \nHer goal is to add the 100-yard freestyle as the third school record under her name. She helped break the 200-yard individual medley record at the Big Ten Championships with a time of 1:38.89 and swam a school record 1:47.18 in the leadoff leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay.\nThe Hoosiers’ top swimmer, sophomore Kate Zubkova, will be competing in five events and hopes to get a top finish in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events. Her time of 51.68 in the 100-yard backstroke bettered the Big Ten and school record by more than a full second. That time would have been good enough for first place in last year’s NCAA meet.\nZubkova, a transfer from Ukraine, keeps a quiet composure about herself, despite the success. When asked about her chances, she smiled and laughed.\n“I don’t really think about it, but I don’t know, we’ll see. I’ll try my best,” she said.\nIn diving, sophomore Brittney Feldman will try to improve on her scores from the weekend. At the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships, she took the third and final qualifying spot in the 1-meter event with 579.40, just half of a point higher than the fourth-place finish. That mark also automatically qualified her for the 3-meter and platform diving events.\nThe other Hoosier participants include swimmers senior Christie Fuchs, juniors Allison Kay and Sarah Stockwell, sophomore Presley Bard and freshman Amanda Smith.\nIU coach Ray Looze wants to see his No.22-ranked team exceed expectations and improve on its 11th place overall finish from last year.\n“On paper, it wouldn’t look that we could, since we are only No. 22 in the country,” he said. “So our ultimate goal is to improve on last year’s national finish, but anything better than our ranking going in would be a success. \n“We’re just going to go in there like the season is at zero. We’ll fight real hard, want to qualify as well as we can, and then at night we want to win.”\nThe team has made a routine of exceeding expectations in the second half of the year after posting a 1-4 start in the fall. In the spring semester’s first meet – the Notre Dame Invitational – the Hoosiers upset then-No. 13 Michigan. In the team’s most recent Big Ten meet, it topped then-No. 12 Penn State.\n“For a year that we had a lot of challenges, we feel fortunate to have that number of people going,” Looze said. “The meet is really going to be fast this year. Fortunately, we’ve got some fast people going.”

IU senior finishes 4th at World Cup

If this year’s FINA Diving World Cup is a gauge to see how well divers are prepared for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, IU senior diver Christina Loukas is more than ready. \nLoukas, who is hoping to earn an Olympic qualifying spot for the United States’ diving team, finished fourth in the 3-meter springboard event, missing a bronze medal by less than half a point. \nAlthough she had previously competed well at national and international events, including a silver medal in the 2007 World University Games, this was Loukas’ first competition in a World Cup, which draws most Olympic-bound divers. This year’s World Cup, which was held Feb. 22-23, has added significance since the event was held in Beijing and serves as direct preparation for the Summer Games.\nThe crowds and competition did not faze Loukas who had a strong start in the preliminary rounds. She was one of two divers to score more than 60 points on each of her five dives to place third after the first day of diving.\nThe next day, she fell to ninth place after her first round of dives, but steadily improved throughout the day. She was in sixth after round two and fifth following her third dive. \nHer fourth round dive, a reverse 2 1/2, earned 81 points including a 9.5 and four 9.0s to place her in medal contention. She finished the day with 67.50 points on a front 2 1/2 twist that left her a half-point behind Australia’s bronze medalist Sharleen Stratton. China finished 1-2 in the event, with Wu Minxia winning with 391.35 points and Guo Jingjing taking second with 387.75.\n“I was very happy with how I dove,” Loukas said. “It definitely would have made it even better if I’d medaled, but I had a lot of fun.”\nLoukas, who redshirted this season from the IU swimming and diving team, now finds herself in the complicated process to be selected to the Olympic team. Up to eight women will be selected for the team, and event winners at the Olympic Diving Trials (June 18-22 in Indianapolis) will be automatically selected. If she doesn’t win at the trials, she will participate in a selection camp, where a committee will select the remaining positions. \nShe helped her chances to make the team through her performances at the World Cup because she earned 25 points for the team trials based on her top-six finish in Beijing.\nIU diving coach Jeff Huber, who also served as a U.S. World Cup coach, was impressed with Loukas’ performance and thinks it bodes well for her chances to make the Olympics.\n“Each time she dove, she got better,” he said. “And that speaks a lot for the dedication, the commitment she’s made not only to her diving but her mental preparation as well.\n“For us, obviously we want to have her on the Olympic team, he said. “There’s a lot of good divers out there, but it’s the ones that are going to step up and perform when it counts that are going to medal.”\nLoukas felt the World Cup meet last month prepared her for the rest of this year’s competition.\n“Being able to compete against those girls — and to dive well — it just gives me the confidence going into Olympics trials and the Olympics if I were to make it.”

Defending Big Ten champs put 2007 title on the line

IU coach Ray Looze does not like to dwell on the past. He never talks about his previous coaching successes nor does he ever compare his current team to past teams.\nSo it comes as little surprise that he believes his team’s Big Ten championship last year has no bearing on IU’s attempt to defend the title this weekend.\n“It’s a different season,” Looze said. “That’s my honest opinion. That was last year’s accomplishment, and we start over. We’re going into this as if we’ve done nothing and we’ve got our work cut out for us.”\nLast year, IU entered the meet as the favorite to win. This year, four teams competing – No. 9 Minnesota, No. 11 Michigan, No. 12 Penn State and No. 20 Wisconsin – are ranked higher than the No. 21 Hoosiers. IU lost several seniors to graduation, and senior diving star Christina Loukas, who won all three diving events in the Big Ten meet last season, red-shirted this year to train for the Beijing Olympics. \n“I don’t think there’s anything more significant about this one,” senior Christie Fuchs said about defending the title. “It’s just another Big Tens.”\nFamiliarity might play a factor for IU in the meet, which runs today through Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. The team has not only competed against several Big Ten opponents this year, but has also had significant success. IU won dual meets against Northwestern and Purdue and won the Notre Dame Invitational over Michigan and Illinois. The victory over then-No. 13 Michigan avenged the Hoosiers’ only Big Ten loss, which came against the Wolverines on Nov. 3. \nThe Hoosiers also have some momentum, despite a near four-week layoff since the last meet. After a 1-4 start to open the season, the team rebounded in 2008 with only one loss.\nJunior Kristin Cihoski thinks the Hoosiers have a chance this weekend to surprise the competition and even her coach. \n“I think it’s going to be a close meet,” Cihoski said. “A lot of people underestimated us and how we were going to do based on our performance earlier, but we really started picking up towards the end.”\nA big reason for the success this semester comes from sophomore Kate Zubkova, who also has the best chance to win an individual title for the Hoosiers this weekend based on her performance this season. A transfer who became eligible in January and has qualified for the 2008 Olympics, Zubkova posted the fastest 100-yard backstroke time in the Big Ten this year. Her 54.02 time automatically qualifies her for the NCAA Championships in March. She added an NCAA B standard time of 1:58.03 in the 200 backstroke and has yet to lose either backstroke events in competition this year.\nThe Hoosiers will rely on freshman distance swimmer Amanda Smith to earn points in the 500 and 1,650 freestyle. She swam her fastest 500 freestyle time (4:47.88) over a month ago at the Notre Dame Invitational, but that mark still stands as the fifth fastest in the Big Ten.\nThe divers, meanwhile, will look to new faces to make up for the loss of Loukas. Freshman Christina Kouklakis will try to repeat her performance at Tennessee where she posted a season-best 282.91 in the 1-meter springboard. The Hoosiers’ No. 1 diver, sophomore Brittany Feldman, will also look to improve her NCAA diving zone qualifying scores in the 1-meter and 3-meter events.

IU extends home winning streak to six

There’s no place like home.\nFor the IU ice hockey team, home – the Frank Southern Ice Arena – has helped revive the team’s season. \nIU (14-9-4) added two home wins against Michigan this past weekend to stretch its late-season winning streak to six games. The team won 5-1 Friday night and 7-3 Saturday afternoon. \nAll six of the games during the winning streak have been played at the “Frank,” a rink that is smaller than a normal regulation rink.\nFreshman defenseman Chris Benz said the home stand could not have come at a better time, as the team’s record had slipped under .500 in early January after starting the season 5-0.\n“I think it’s good that we’re on a win streak at the end of the season,” Benz said. “Obviously, it will carry us into the playoffs with a lot of confidence.”\nThe team can add one more win to its home streak this weekend against Kentucky, a team they’ve already beaten twice early in the season. After playing Friday night in Bloomington, IU will travel to Lexington, Ky., for a midnight game Saturday.\nThe Kentucky Cool Cats (20-9-2) are not the same team that IU swept in October. They are riding a 12-game winning streak and have yet to lose in 2008. Two of those wins came against Ferris State, a team that beat IU earlier this year.\nThe games will serve as a last chance for IU and Kentucky to improve on their regional rankings. Both teams compete in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Southeast region. The top 10 teams advance to the regional playoffs. IU, ranked No. 7 in the Jan. 27 rankings, will most likely qualify for the playoffs, and the Cool Cats are holding onto the No. 10 spot.\nSophomore forward Joe Fornari said he expects tough competition.\n“They’re a good team and it’s our last regular season game before the playoffs, so we need to do well,” he said.\nThis past weekend, IU improved its Greater Midwest Hockey League standing with two wins against Michigan (14-14-0), a divisional opponent. After opening division play with a 0-6-4 record, four of IU’s wins during its current winning streak are against GMHL opponents. In Friday’s game, Benz scored two goals to lead the team. His second period goal pushed the lead to 3-1, and IU held onto the lead through the rest of the game.\n“Friday’s game was important to us,” Benz said. “We had to get our record up. If we didn’t get two points (in the standings) Friday night, we would have dug ourselves into a hole for the Saturday game.”\nIU completed the sweep the following day. After a Michigan goal began the game, IU scored six straight to put the game out of reach by the end of the second period. Fornari scored two of the first six goals and added a third period goal for his first hat trick of the season.\n“Any time we can sweep a team is great,” Fornari said. “Getting a win on Friday is great, but it doesn’t mean anything if you can’t finish them off on Saturday.”

Beijing Bound

In many ways, sophomore Kate Zubkova isn’t much different from the rest of the IU women’s swimming team. She laughs and chats with her teammates and coaches and swims alongside everyone else at practice. \nHowever, there is one big difference – none of her teammates have swum in the Olympic Games and she’s the only one to have qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.\nZubkova, along with senior diver Christina Loukas, who will be competing in the FINA Diving World Cup next week, hopes to continue IU’s storied Olympic tradition this summer.\nA Kharkov, Ukraine, native, Zubkova transferred to IU this past fall. The swimmer will represent Ukraine in the Olympics for the second time this summer. As a 16-year-old at the 2004 games, Zubkova won her first heat in the 100-meter butterfly, yet her time placed her 30th overall, and she failed to advance to the semi-finals. \nWith four more years of international experience and one semester of U.S. collegiate competition under her belt, Zubkova thinks she’s better prepared this time to compete on a world stage.\n“I think this year I’m training much harder than all my previous years,” she said. “And I’m expecting a good result.”\nZubkova has already claimed a spot on the Ukrainian Olympic team in the 100-yard backstroke. She plans to compete for IU in the Big Ten and NCAA championships and train in Bloomington until she leaves to train with her national team in August. Zubkova, who was ranked 33rd in the world in the 100-yard backstroke in 2007, will be competing against the best in her event, including U.S. swimmer Natalie Coughlin, the current world record holder.\nZubkova became eligible to compete in NCAA meets this semester and has made an immediate impact for the Hoosiers. She notched six first-place finishes in the Notre Dame Invitational, including pool records in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke.\n“I really, really enjoyed these competitions,” she said. “And Big Tens and NCAA, as I was told, will be even more fun than that was. But I think any competition will help me prepare for the Big Tens, for NCAA and for the Olympic games.”\nZubkova will carry IU’s Olympic tradition with her to the Beijing games. Prior to 2004, at least one Hoosier medaled in every Summer Games since 1932. The IU swim teams have been particularly successful, highlighted by Mark Spitz’s record seven gold medals in 1972. Women’s swimmers have collected four diving medals and one swimming medal in past Olympics.\n“Our goals here are to win national titles and Olympic medals,” IU coach Ray Looze said. “That’s what IU was known for back in the days of (former head coach) Doc Councilman, and his great swimmers that were a part of so many medals ... Kate being a swimmer that is ranked fairly highly in the world just gives us a chance, a good starting point to put her in a position to go to Beijing and bring home some medals.”\nOne diver might be able to help Zubkova in representing IU. Christina Loukas, who redshirted this season to train for the Olympics, will attempt to qualify in the 3-meter springboard competition. Last year, she had one of the most impressive performances in Big Ten diving history, sweeping the 1-meter, 3-meter and 10-meter events, earning three first-place finishes.\nShe was named to the USA World Cup team and will compete Feb. 19 to 24 at the FINA World Diving Cup in Beijing. The meet serves as qualifying process for the Olympics, as a selection committee will choose the squad following the Olympic trials in Indianapolis in June.\nLoukas feels that her selection to compete at the World Cup bodes well for her chances to qualify for the Olympics.\n“If I was able to make this team,” she said, “I have a decent chance of making the Olympic team ... it will be whoever can handle the pressure, who can dive well and be consistent with their dives.”\nIt’s not a new concept for Loukas to compete and be successful at the national and international levels. In 2006, she won the gold in the 1-meter at the US National Championships. She earned a silver in the 3-meter at the 2007 World University Games in Thailand.\nIU head diving coach Jeff Huber will join Loukas at the World Cup as a U.S. coach. Huber, who was the U.S. Olympic diving coach at Athens in 2004 and Sydney in 2000, thinks Loukas has the ability to compete with anyone in the world. He said her 363 total points and her second-place finish at the World University Games is just under what it takes to win internationally.\n“We’re kind of on a quest,” he said. “We’re in the right direction. We’re trying to get into the 380 (points) range and so that’s what we’re working on now, just moving up 20 points, and if she does that, she can compete with anybody in the world and contend for a world title and an Olympic gold medal.”