Field hockey team drops two

Northwestern spoiled IU's Big Ten home opener as the Wildcats defeated the Hoosier field hockey team 4-1 Friday. Despite equaling Northwestern in shots at seven and getting four more penalty corners than the Wildcats, the Hoosiers couldn't find the back of the net more than once.\nThe Wildcats netted two goals on just three shots in the first 16 minutes of the game, sending the Hoosiers to a 2-0 halftime deficit. Each of the goals came off penalty corners for Northwestern. The Wildcats added a third goal three minutes into the second half, as IU was looking to gain momentum. \nSophomore forward Lauren Micka put the Hoosiers on the scoreboard five minutes later as freshman Kayla Bashore got an assist. Micka's goal was her first of the season and the second of her career. But the Hoosiers wouldn't get any closer and Northwestern slammed the door on IU's hopes with a fourth goal two minutes after Micka's goal. The win gave the Wildcats their second of the season and first in Big Ten play.\nMicka admitted her goal came off a broken penalty corner. She also said the score didn't reflect the way the Hoosiers played.\n"It wasn't the play we were supposed to be running," Micka said. "It kind of messed up and I saw the open corner and went for it. The effort was there on everybody's part and I don't think the score reflected that effort. I think we definitely outplayed Northwestern, but it just didn't show in the score."\nHead coach Amy Robertson said she was impressed by the way the Hoosiers fought as a team.\n"Northwestern really executed well on their corners, so I have to give them some credit there," Robertson said. "I thought my team did a good job of working together to defend, but we turned the ball over in some situations when there really wasn't a lot of pressure on us and I had hoped that we could have kept a little better possession."\nComing off the disappointing loss to Northwestern, the Hoosiers were hoping for a better result against Louisville Sunday. But the Cardinals weren't prepared to cooperate, upending the Hoosiers 3-0. \nLouisville fended off IU's early attacks and went ahead 1-0 when Louisville capitalized on a penalty corner 19 minutes into the match. Robertson was satisfied with her team's first half performance and thought IU did many things well in the first 35 minutes.\n"I was really proud of the team in the first half," she said. "A lot of things came together for us today. We played as a team when we got the ball on the attack, we stepped up defensively and overall we were real poised we combined very well today."\nBut the Cardinals came out more aggressive in the second stanza, making the score 2-0 with a goal less than five minutes into the half. Louisville added its third and final goal with 20:53 left in the match. The game was played in front of an IU record crowd of 156 as the Hoosiers moved to 1-9 on the year.\nIn spite of the loss, Robertson said she was pleased with her team's intensity and aggressiveness towards an established program in Louisville.\n"We had a good balance today, we used our intensity at the right level," she said. "We were able to turn it up a notch and still recognize what to do and what space was available on the field. We were not intimidated at all by a top 10 team and the score doesn't show it, but the game was a lot closer."\nLouisville head coach Pam Bustin played with Robertson at Massachusetts during their college careers. Bustin was impressed with Robertson's improvements to the IU program and was not surprised at all with the Hoosiers emotional play.\n"She's doing a great job," Bustin said. "In my mind she's doing it the right way, by being patient and keeping things in reality for a young team. You have to prepare for the future. I was anticipating that IU would come out with a lot of energy and I thought our extra two years of experience helped to combat that energy. I was very impressed with the way they played, they are a good team."\nBut senior co-captain Akila Jones said she is getting annoyed with the Hoosiers' inability to get wins.\n"I was proud of the way we played, but it is getting frustrating because we bust our butts so hard and we just can't figure out what we aren't doing," Jones said. "Coach keeps telling us that it's a learning process every time we lose, but right now I am sick of learning and I want to capitalize on what we have learned and use it to our advantage"