Double trouble in the backfield

Four games. 280 minutes. Four hours of field hockey.\nAnd the IU women's field hockey team has yet to give up a goal.\nThe Hoosiers defense has been led by two very different defenders. On one side there is freshman center back Morgan Miller who is extremely modest about her play and the honors that she has already received as a freshman, which includes being the first Hoosier to win the Big Ten defensive player of the week. \n"I really don't think it is an individual honor," Miller said. "It is hard for me to take (the award) and think it is just me, because it's not. I just see it as being in the right place at the right time and doing my role."\nOn the other hand there is outspoken senior goalie Molly Pulkrabek who already once this year has caught her coach's attention with her comments to the media about the first game of the season. \n"I have no doubt that we will match and beat these teams," Pulkrabek said. "I think we're a lot stronger team this year, and I think our level of play has increased a lot. So I think we're going to go out and kick their butts."\nOnly in her first year, Miller has already done two things that no other Hoosier had done before her. In the first game of the season she made two game-saving defensive stops and was rewarded by the Big Ten as co-defensive player of the week, becoming the first Hoosier ever to win the honor. Later in the week Miller was recognized on a more national level as she won womensfieldhockey.com's Rookie of the Week. \nPulkrabek has been very pleased with the way the freshman has played. \n"She is definitely a very bold player. She has definitely stepped up and I think she has played amazing," Pulkrabek said. "I am really impressed with what she has done, and she has definitely held it together back there." \nPulkrabek has not played too badly herself, though. She became the second straight Hoosier to win defensive player of the week in the Big Ten, something coach Amy Robertson is very happy about.\n"To have played four games and have no goals scored against us shows how determined our defense is to not allow the opponent to score," Robertson said. "This is a huge accomplishment for Molly and the entire team. Molly has played exceptional. There have been opportunities generated from our opponents to take good shots, and Molly had shut them down. She is very confident, competitive and very aggressive. She takes risks sometimes and they have paid off for her."\nThe defense is a big part of the reason why the Hoosiers jumped all the way up to 13th in the polls. This is the first time in team history that the Hoosiers have been ranked in the top 20. Robertson said she believes this is a big moment for the program. \n"This is the first time that Indiana has received recognition, and it means a lot to the whole team," she said. "We still have a whole season to play, and I hope to see us ranked in the end. We are going to use the No. 13 ranking as motivation for the players this week. It shows us how our hard work is playing off."\nRobertson hopes the motivation will still be there next week as the Hoosiers will take the weekend off and head to Williamsburg, Va., to face off against 18th ranked William and Mary. \n-- Contact staff writer Andrew Rosen at ajrosen@indiana.edu.