No. 7 IU pushing for 7th straight win over Wildcats

IU women's field hockey head coach Amy Robertson has her team riding high, evidenced by a seven-game winning streak to match a program high No. 7 national ranking. Even with many accolades and wins, Robertson insists her team isn't losing focus on their season goals, especially with 6-5 (0-3) Northwestern coming into Mellencamp Pavilion Saturday. \n"Our focus is only improving as the success continues," Robertson said. "I haven't seen this team relax for a second all season."\nSenior defensive back Morgan Albini said she believes the 10-1 (2-0) Hoosiers' success this season motivates them to improve even further. \n"The winning streak and national attention have only been building our confidence and fueling our desire to get better," Albini said. \nThe Hoosiers hope to continue their winning streak Saturday, but to do so, they have to do something they have never done before -- defeat the Wildcats. \n"Traditionally, Northwestern is an exceptional defensive team. But this year, they've been giving up a lot more goals ... but consequently they've been scoring more too," Robertson said. "We have to play our best game for a sustained effort over 70 minutes, and use our speed to our advantage."\nSophomore goalkeeper Haley Exner, fresh from winning her second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award of the season, said she believes defense and home field advantage will play important roles in the match. IU is 5-0 at home and has out-scored opponents 22-3 at Mellencamp this season. \n"On defense, we are working on communication and marking up the open players so we are organized when Northwestern is on attack," Exner said. "This game is huge for us because we lost to them in overtime last year, and one of our goals this year is to win all 11 of our home games, and winning Saturday will just make us closer to accomplishing that goal"