Hoosiers fall short in bid for second victory

Heading into it's weekend matches in Iowa City, Iowa, against Iowa and Southwest Missouri State, the IU field hockey team was looking to build on it's momentum from a pair of 3-2 double overtime losses the previous week. But the Hoosiers suffered an emotional blow as they were defeated 8-1 by the Hawkeyes Friday.\nIowa jumped on the young IU team early, as junior Tiffany Fodera scored off a penalty shot 4:33 into the match. IU junior co-captain Erica Nilsson responded for the Hoosiers, tying the score 1-1 with a goal six minutes later. Freshman Kayla Bashore assisted on the goal. The score gave Nilsson her third goal in the previous three matches for the Hoosiers and the fourth of her career.\nThe Hawkeyes were quick to answer Nilsson's goal as Iowa junior Tiffany Liester scored off another Iowa penalty shot four minutes after IU tied the game. Liester knotted her second goal on the day eight minutes later off a Hawkeye penalty corner. Iowa completed the first half scoring, with a goal by freshman Sarah Dawson just two minutes after Liester's second goal.\nWith the Hoosiers hoping to come out strong in the second half, Iowa put to rest any hopes of a comeback stretching their lead to 5-1. The next goal came off the stick of sophomore Rebekah Heavrin less than a minute into the second half. Heavrin netted a second goal with 12:07 left in the match. Fodera then gave the Hawkeyes a trio of two-goal scorers, beating IU keeper junior Molly Pulkrabek with Iowa's third goal off of a penalty shot. Hawkeye freshman Lauren Stiver capped the day's scoring with 5:18 left in the match. The win moved the Hawkeyes to 9-3 overall and 3-2 in Big Ten competition.\nIU gave the Hawkeyes an unprecedented four penalty shots on the day and Iowa capitalized on three of them. The Hoosiers were also plagued by penalty corners as they allowed 15 and only received one of their own. Iowa also outshot the Hoosiers 35-4. IU freshman goalie Katie Kanara recorded eight saves in the first half and Pulkrabek added seven in the second session.\nLooking to rebound from the Iowa match, IU played last out of conference match-up of the season, against SMS Saturday. The Bears came into the game not having allowed a goal in the previous five matches and stretched their streak to six with a 1-0 shutout of the Hoosiers.\nThe lone goal of the game came from Bears junior Leah Postorino with 13:25 left in the first half. It came on a breakaway as the Bears passed the ball around Pulkrabek and Postorino put the ball into the net.\nIU was outshot 23-5 by SMS and gave the Bears 15 more penalty corners. But Pulkrabek kept the Hoosiers in the match tallying 11 saves in the game. While the Hoosiers had chances to tie the game, SMS sophomore goalkeeper Tiffany Sands, recorded two saves on three IU shots to preserve the shutout for the Bears. The win moved SMS to 9-6 on the year. The pair of losses dropped IU to 1-13 overall and 0-4 in Big Ten conference competition.\nThe Hoosiers will travel to Ohio State next Friday to complete their four-game road trip. IU's last regular season match-up is next Sunday against Penn State at 12 p.m. at the Mellencamp Pavilion.