Stanford holds off Hoosiers

A thunderstorm ripped through Bloomington last Friday afternoon, but Mother Nature wasn't the only force in town. Before the first overtime began, someone from the Hoosier field hockey team huddle yelled, "There's a storm coming, and it's Indiana."\nUnfortunately for the Hoosiers, their efforts fell just short as they were defeated by Stanford University squad 3-1 in extra strokes following 70 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime scoreless play. The overtime play and extra strokes were the first in the Hoosiers' two-year history.\nAlthough IU was outshot 25-7 and the Cardinals had 25 more penalty corners than the Hoosiers, the young IU team played a tough defensive game which impressed head coach Amy Robertson.\n"We took everything Stanford had to shell out," Robertson said. "They must have had a million corners, but our defense had the determination and a mindset to say 'No, we are not letting them put this ball in the back of the net.' It wasn't just one time, it was over and over and over again."\nThe second-largest crowd in Hoosier history watched the Hoosiers attempt to open up the field for offensive attacks in overtime. When neither team converted on several chances in the two 15-minute overtime periods, each team selected five participants for the extra strokes. IU's lone goal in extra strokes came off the stick of freshman midfielder Kimberly Nash.\nPlaying in the second half and during overtime, junior keeper Molly Pulkrabek made 10 saves to keep the Hoosiers in the game. Admitting the loss was a tough one, but Pulkrabek said she was pleased with the way the team played.\n"I think we stepped up to a level that we hadn't been playing. I am really proud of the way we played today."\nAlthough disappointed with the outcome, senior co-captain Brooke Magers said she accepted the game as a moral victory for the Hoosiers.\n"I think this is the best game we have ever played, by far," Magers said. "While it's hard for us to have lost and to have gone into strokes, it's a victory in our book."\nSenior co-captain Akila Jones made several key defensive stops in the second half and overtime that kept the Hoosiers in contention. Jones said she was delighted with the team's play.\n"I am so proud of everybody on this team. They gave 110% all the way and fought hard. You play like you practice and they practiced so hard this week and that's exactly what I saw today."\nHoping to carry over the momentum created in the Stanford match, the Hoosiers now focus on next weekend's matches in St. Louis against the University of Pacific and St. Louis University.\n"Stanford helped bring our level up another level," Robertson said. I think we saw a new side of ourselves we haven't seen previously and that's got to carry over a lot more in our next games."\n"We finally found that we have what it takes to play hard," Jones said. "Now that we know where to find it, I think we can keep this surge going"