Field hockey falls to Michigan State

A second half scoring frenzy propelled the No. 5 Michigan State Spartans to a 5-1 victory over the IU field hockey team (3-9, 1-2 Big Ten) Saturday. The Spartans (12-2, 2-1 Big Ten) tallied all five of their goals in the second half, including three in the final nine minutes of regulation. Despite the final score, the Hoosiers stayed close for much of the game with the more experienced and talented Spartans.\nThe contest was scoreless after the first stanza, and the Hoosiers only trailed 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining before the Spartan onslaught began. \n"We held off a long time," coach Amy Robertson said in a statement. "We had a five minute lapse in the final seven minutes, but we turned it around and the last few minutes picked up our play and fought to the bitter end."\nFollowing the scoreless first half, Michigan State freshman Michelle Huynh-Ba put the Spartans on top 1-0 eight minutes into the second half. Nine minutes later, freshman Jessica Miller received a pass from sophomore Judi van Haeringen and buried it into the back of the net to put the Spartans up 2-0.\nIU quickly fought back and only a minute later freshman Nikki Orciuch lit up the Hoosier side of the scoreboard when she rebounded her own shot and beat MSU goalie Christina Kirkaldy to draw IU closer, 2-1.Orciuch's goal was her third on the season and second in two games, and her two shots on the game were IU's only attempts at Kirkaldy all day.\nIU continued to give the Spartans all they wanted, but with 8:18 remaining the sleeping giant finally awoke when van Haeringen found senior Cynthia Martin to stretch the Spartan lead to 3-1. Less than a minute later, van Haeringen distributed her third assist to sophomore Michelle Carstens to make the score 4-1. Freshman Megan Kunk sealed the Spartan win with her first goal of the season to end the day's scoring at 5-1.\nRobertson's plan going into Saturday was to disrupt the rhythm and spacing of the MSU attack. While the plan worked in the first half, Robertson believes her team's failure to adjust to the MSU attack in the second half did them in. \n"We were able to disrupt their play in the first half," Robertson said. "But we couldn't make the adjustment defensively in the second half against their attack."\nWhile the Hoosiers did lose to the Spartans, Robertson credited many of her defensive players for outstanding performances.\n"Kayla (Bashore) and Akila (Jones) played really well for us today," Robertson said. "Morgan Albini had nice one-on-one plays, and made great defensive saves. Molly (Pulkrabek) came out really aggressive and never backed down in the cage."\nIU's schedule does not get any easier as the Hoosiers welcome No. 1 ranked and defending national champion Michigan 6 p.m. Friday at Mellencamp Pavilion.