Hoosiers tame Lions, fall to Wolverines

The IU field hockey team rebounded Sunday with a 3-0 victory over Division III Lindenwood after being shutout 5-0 by No. 2 and defending national champion Michigan Friday. The Hoosiers (4-10, 1-3 Big Ten) were able to outshoot 30-2 and out penalty corner 15-2 the Lions (10-2) after being dominated by the Wolverines' talented attack when IU was outshot 25-4. But coach Amy Robertson said her team can take some positives out of Friday's loss.\n"I'm proud of my team," Robertson said. "We didn't back down. We reached the goals that we set for ourselves in this game to never give up, to play with intensity for 70 minutes, to take risks, to step up, to move the ball around and to play relentless team defense."\nCapitalizing on penalty corner opportunities was not the Michigan Wolverines problem Friday as the Big Blue had four corners and buried three of them into the back of the net. Wolverine junior Kristi Gannon tallied three of her four goals in the first half by scoring on all of Michigan's corners.\nGannon's first came just 2:59 into the contest when she rebounded her own shot and beat senior goalie Molly Pulkrabek to put the Wolverines on top 1-0. Five minutes later, UM sophomores Katy Moyneur and Adrienne Hortillosa assisted Gannon's scoring blast to stretch the Wolverine lead to 2-0. Gannon ended her scoring domination with just over seven minutes left in the half by again receiving a Moyneur-Hortillosa combination to beat Pulkrabek and take UM into the break leading 3-0.\nIU prepared for Michigan's possible penalty corner onslaught, but Pulkrabek credited the Wolverines execution and strength for their success.\n"They executed really fast, and they just hit the ball really hard," Pulkrabek said. "Last year that's what they did. They scored almost all of their goals on corners. It was one of the team's goals for this game to minimize corners because that's what they mainly score on."\nRobertson said she agrees, and credits UM's experience as an additional factor.\n"They've got great technique, and they've had the same corner unit the past three years," she said. "They just step right up and hit it as hard as they can."\nWhile the Wolverines lit up the scoreboard on corners in the first stanza, they resorted to more conventional levels in the second when junior April Fronzoni passed around Pulkrabek to find junior Laura Woitkewitsch to put UM up 4-0. Gannon completed her offensive mastery a minute later when she tallied her fourth goal of the game and fifth of the season to culminate the Wolverine victory, 5-0. \nThe IU offense struggled to penetrate the Wolverine wall of defense. Senior Erica Nilsson had the Hoosiers' most promising chance when she had two shots at close range in the opening moments of the game, but she was not able to capitalize. \nFreshman forward Nikki Orciuch attributed talent and effort as key to Wolverine success.\n"They were very well balanced, and they passed very fast and on point," she said. "They moved the ball around us pretty well, and they hustled back on defense and shut us down."\nOn Sunday, IU cured the offensive demons by exploding for two goals and 18 shots in the first half. Nilsson tallied the first of her two first half goals on a beautiful penalty corner combination when sophomore Ryan Woolsey found sophomore Kayla Bashore at the top of the circle. Bashore then assisted Nilsson who was wide open at point blank range.\nWith ten minutes left in the half, Nilsson rebounded a shot that hit the goal post and beat Lindenwood junior goalie Leah Werry to stretch IU's lead to 2-0. The Hoosiers took that two-goal lead into the intermission.\nIU dominated the first half offensively with numerous chances to add more to the home side of the scoreboard. But, for the majority of the second half, IU was held in check until senior Lindsay Schafer scored her first career goal when she rebounded her own shot and powered it by Werry to insure the Hoosier victory, 3-0.\n"It was a really exciting moment," Schafer said. "I got it right off the goalie's pads and found the corner. It makes it all worthwhile to have a moment like that."\nThe Hoosiers continue their 4-game homestand when they battle Iowa at 3 p.m. Friday at Mellencamp Pavilion.