Team falls in opener, defeats Missouri

The Hoosiers won their first regular season contest under new coach Mick Lyon Sunday at the Nike Tiger Invitational. After falling to Kentucky 3-1 in the tournament opener, the team responded against Missouri with a double overtime victory. \nJunior Shelly Gruszka tallied the first goal for the Hoosiers on an assist from freshman Kristen Zmijewski in the ninth minute of play. Missouri responded in the 37th minute with a goal by junior Adriene Davis. The remainder of regulation proved a defensive effort on both sides as time expired with the two teams knotted at one apiece. \nMissouri and IU played a scoreless first overtime, but the Hoosiers netted their first victory with a goal in the sudden-death, second overtime period. Senior Kara Bryan put the ball in the Missouri net on a pass from Gruszka in the 107th minute.\n"It was just a perfect ball by (Gruszka)," Bryan said in a press release. "We've been working on shooting a lot in practice. It was really just perfect." \nLyon said he was pleased with the team's effort and resolve in the victory.\n"I told the girls before I came in that I would develop a way for them to win games, to be a team that finds a way to win games," Lyon said in a press release. "We found the way to win a tough game tonight."\nThe Hoosiers opened their season Friday against Kentucky, but fell to the Wildcats 3-1. The Wildcats dominated offensively in the first 30 minutes of the game, outshooting the Hoosiers 7-2. But, IU fired up their offense and tightened their defense for the remainder of the period en route to outshooting Kentucky 5-0. \nFor the half, Kentucky had four shots on goal to IU's three and the period ended with a 0-0 tie. IU struck first in the second half, as senior Kristin Sprunger took a pass from Gruszka and scored the Hoosiers' lone goal and their first of the season.\n"It felt good (to score the first goal of the season)," Sprunger said in a statement. "But really it was all Shelly. I was just there to tap it in."\nBut, the Hoosier's offensive firepower dwindled as the Wildcat's began to warm up. Four minutes after the goal, freshman Kristin Limburg received a red card and was ejected. Kentucky immediately capitalized, as junior Lauren Russell scored for the Wildcats only three seconds later.\nJunior Kara McCue scored the game winner at the 70:17 mark and freshman Kathryn Grandinetti put the game away with a third goal less than three and a half minutes later. Lyon said in a press release the red card disrupted what had been a positive showing by the Hoosiers. \n"In the second half we looked great -- we came out and scored a goal," he said. "Until the red card I thought we were playing confidently. Regardless, the red card gave them energy and put us on our heels. We just gave the game away after that point."\nThe Hoosiers next travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats Thursday at 7 p.m.