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(10/06/00 5:02am)
The field hockey team is riding a wave of momentum after earning its first win of the season Sunday in a 4-0 decision against Bellarmine University, and hopes to crash down onto Bucknell University and Penn State this weekend.\nThe Hoosiers will face the Bucknell Bisons (6-5) Friday and then challenge No. 6 Penn State (8-2) Saturday. Both games will be played at Bigler Field in State College, Pa.\nIU faces tough adversaries this weekend, but coach Amy Robertson said she believes the team can come away successful. \n"It's definitely a challenge, but it might actually help us since the games are back-to-back," Robertson said. "We'll be playing different styles, and if we played the same style both days, they would wear us out a little more. Penn State is right up there with Michigan, and we will have a similar game plan but hope to strike more on offense when they are vulnerable to counter attacks."\nSince IU has already faced a top 10 team this season, the Hoosiers are prepared to compete with the Nittany Lions, senior captain Tania Hults said.\n"It helps to have experience behind us," Hults said. "We now know that our offense can pick up with the defense we used against Michigan. That way we can have a counterattack against Penn State."\nIU has not played two games in the same week -- let alone on back-to-back days -- yet this season. The team's leading scorer, junior forward Brooke Magers, considers this weekend a test for the team in fitness and strategy, but remains confident.\n"We've had a really hard week in terms of conditioning," Magers said. "But it's definitely paying off because we're not getting as tired as we used to in practice. Our first game, we'll be playing a lot more offense, and in the second, a lot more defense. Because we've had a win and our team is playing much better offense, we have a chance to take the games from two teams that aren't expecting us to win."\nAlthough she feels more time for preparation and rest would help, Robertson said she is satisfied with the cards she has been dealt.\n"I probably would want to play Penn State first," Robertson said. "But our best chance to compete will be with Bucknell, so at the same time, that may be a more important game for us. It certainly will be a physical and mental challenge to stay in the game for 70 minutes against Penn State without a full 24 hours of rest, but we can do it"
(10/02/00 5:27am)
LOUISVILLE -- IU stormed down Interstate 65 Sunday determined to get its first win of the season against Division II Bellarmine University. It turned out the only difficult thing about the day was choosing whether to watch "Goonies" or "The Princess Bride" on the way home. "Goonies" won with a 10-8 vote.\nThe game looked very similar to previous contests, but the major difference was that IU was the dominator, not the dominated. The Hoosiers (1-4) put on a clinic against the Knights, shutting them down, 4-0.\nBoth sides pressured each other equally for most of the first half, until junior forward Brooke Magers ripped a backhand goal off a perfectly placed centering pass from freshman forward Lauren Micka with 8:58 left in the first half. Coach Amy Robertson said she noticed a sudden change in her team's attitude after the Hoosiers' first goal of the season.\n"A great thing for us was putting that first ball behind the goalkeeper," Robertson said. "After that, we stepped up and played with more confidence because we realized that we could do this."\nThe elusive first goal finally came in the fifth game of the season, and it was a relief for the Hoosiers, especially for Magers.\n"It's been hard being an offensive player and not getting any shots on goal, so it was very exciting," Magers said. "We have a lot of hard games ahead of us, but this game will give us the confidence we need."\nMicka slapped in a goal of her own off a penalty corner five minutes after the first goal. IU's pressure never relented.\nAs soon as the second half began, the Knights were in trouble. Sophomore midfielder Erica Nilsson darted past defenders and flicked a goal past the keeper eight minutes into the half. Magers launched a shot from the outside to add another insurance goal two minutes later.\nAfter last week's busy day in the cage, senior goalkeeper Alexandra Kaufman said she enjoyed an easy shutout.\n"It's a great day when you don't get any action in goal," Kaufman said. "We came in thinking that both teams were equal and whoever played their best would come out with the 'W.'"\nRobertson said she viewed the game as a great learning experience for the team and enjoys seeing her team improve every week.\n"With this behind us, we understand what it takes to move the ball up the field and get it into scoring position, and that's only going to help us," Robertson said. "We're playing really good defense. Even though this was a very attacking game, we played defense very well when we had to."\nAlthough IU dominated Bellarmine, the Hoosiers must redirect attention to a difficult weekend when they travel to Pennsylvania to challenge Bucknell University and Penn State.\n"This win came at a perfect time," Micka said. "We're starting to play some really serious Big Ten teams, and we got rid of all our timidity in our offense. We took some big risks and they just happened to pay off"
(09/29/00 5:13am)
Although the field hockey has not won a game this year or even scored a goal, Sunday's game in Louisville is shaping up to be the turning point of the season. \nIU faces off against Division II Bellarmine University in hopes of going 1-4 on the year and dropping the Knights to a record of 4-3. This is the second game played on neutral turf at the University of Louisville.\nThe Hoosiers have abandoned the defensive approach and attention has shifted back to increasing attacks and lighting up the scoreboard. Junior back Kelly Lewis and freshman forward Lauren Micka, who attended Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville., are calm and cool for the second return to their hometown this season. \n"For the Michigan game we used a completely different defense," Lewis said. "Now we're getting back to our same game plan. We're trying to control the ball more and move it up in our space."\nCoach Amy Robertson said she is confident that her team will step up to get that elusive first goal.\n"The first thing we need to do is increase the number of shots we're getting in a game because we're not getting many," Robertson said. "To create more opportunities, we want to draw more attack corners. Mentally, the players are getting stronger after every game."\nLewis and Micka said battling against opponents they know on a personal level brings out more competition, and it's fun talking to them after the game, especially if the Hoosiers win.\nFreshman forward Becky Preston, sophomore forward Angela Ash and junior forward Andrea onterman have scored two goals apiece for the Knights. But Robertson wants to concentrate on her team instead of adapting to her opponents like she did against Michigan.\n"Rather than having a strategy to change in relation to how the other team is, we're focusing on ourselves for this game and going back to our basic structure," Robertson said. "We're going to play a more typical game style and expect to see both sides of the ball. It will be more like how we started off the season, but now we're better conditioned and have better ball possession skills."\nSmiling from ear to ear, Micka combined all her teammates' thoughts in one short statement.\n"This is our biggest chance to win," Micka said. "It's all uphill from here"
(09/25/00 6:22am)
The field hockey team survived its battle against rival No. 4 Michigan by playing a game of cat and mouse. \nThe Hoosiers allowed perimeter passing, but halted most of the Wolverines devastating attacks by converging on the ball like vultures. Michigan defeated IU 8-0, but coach Amy Robertson said she believed the Hoosiers won a moral victory.\n"I consider this a victory for our team," Robertson said. "Everyone stuck to the game plan and worked hard for 70 minutes. I think we believed that this plan would really work."\nIU's defense established itself early, but could only hold off the Wolverine threats for 15 minutes until Michigan's Kristi Gannon scorched a shot off a penalty corner for the first of her four goals in the game. The Hoosiers buckled down and allowed one more goal the first half, but penalty corners hurt them the rest of the game.\n"Most of the goals were scored on penalty corners and Michigan had some really hard hitters," Robertson said. "Typically Michigan can also score off rebounds, and we were saving those. Our game plan was to step up on them and box them out so they couldn't get second shots."\nAlthough Michigan scored eight goals, the score did not reflect the exceptional play of IU's defense led by senior keeper Alexandra Kaufman and senior back Tania Hults. Kaufman received endless praise for her goalkeeping from an impressed Robertson.\n"I'm really happy with the play of (Kaufman)," Robertson said. "That is amazing to save three out of four penalty strokes. It\'s usually unheard of to have four penalty strokes against you, but that just goes to show how hard the defense was working and how determined they were to keep the ball out of the goal cage."\nKaufman stopped 16 shots as goalie. The entire defense contributed to Kaufman\'s game, but the team could not maintain the intensity needed to contain the Wolverines for the entire 70 minutes.\n"We did a great job shutting them down in the first half because we were focused," Kaufman said. "In the second half we got tired and started having little breakdowns, and Michigan is so good that if you breakdown for a second, they will capitalize right away."\nBloodied and beaten from the physical game, Hults shrugged off the injuries and viewed the game positively.\n"I think this just pumped us up more," Hults said. "It feels more like a victory to play such a team and play them so well. It was our first Big Ten game, and we didn\'t feel like we were walked on"
(09/04/00 5:51am)
This weekend marked the first varsity field hockey game at IU in 18 years, and it did not disappoint the excited crowd. Fans endured the muggy atmosphere of the Mellencamp Pavilion in order to support this new varsity sport with banners and cheers.\nAlthough the field hockey team was shut out 2-0 in its season opener Saturday by Division II opponent Slippery Rock, IU exhibited constant hustle and the makings of a successful team.\nThe Hoosiers controlled the ball early with speed and swarming defense, but Slippery Rock's Emily Eich sneaked a goal past senior goalkeeper Alexandra Kaufman 7:31 into the game. Sophomore Molly Pulkrabek did not have any better luck in goal for IU in the second half. She was unable to prevent Brittany Butler from notching the second goal of the game off of a rebound just two and a half minutes into the second half.\nCoach Amy Robertson said she thought the defense in the box could improve, cutting down on breaks for the opposing team.\n"They didn't get their initial shots, but we didn't step up on their rebounds," Robertson said. "We need to learn to do that."\nIU pressured Slippery Rock's defense throughout the game, but still was only able to get three shots off. Junior Brooke Magers, sophomore Erica Nilsson and freshman Lauren Micka each tallied one shot.\n Robertson viewed this game as an overall success, even though it did not end in victory.\n "We followed the game plan, but we weren't sure if we had the confidence to step up and attack them," Robertson said. "This loss will turn out to be a good thing because we'll be able to see what we did wrong on video and learn from it."\nFreshman Abby Schwab said she shared Coach Robertson's positive attitude about the game.\n"I think after all the preparation we have done, regardless of the time we've been together, I think we were pretty ready," Schwab said. "Today was a great way for us to see how we utilize the drills we do in practice."\nAs a four-year veteran of the club field hockey team, senior Tania Hults said she easily recognizes a winning attitude within the team this year.\n"I think we're going to be very successful," Hults said. "I think the goals we set for ourselves as a team just keep growing everyday, and we'll just focus on one game at a time."\nIU will travel to Louisville, Ky., to challenge St. Louis University next Sunday, looking to come away with a victory after a week of hard work. Robertson is anxious to get back on the practice field to work out some more bugs.\n"We're going to work on being more organized and using our forwards more," Robertson said. "This was our first opportunity to play 11 versus 11 and it gives us a chance to learn so much from this game"