Hoosiers upset UNC in 1st round, lose to Wake in 2nd

Just six years ago, during head coach Amy Robertson's first season, the IU field hockey team finished the year with a 1-12 record. Fast forward to 2005, and the Hoosiers have completed the most successful season in program history with a 17-5 record, and one win short of reaching the Final Four. \nOn Saturday in Winston Salem, N.C., the Hoosiers upset No. 5 University of North Carolina 3-2 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Not only was it the first victory for an IU team in the NCAA tournament, it was the first appearance in the field of 16 in the six-year program history. \n"Anytime you can get a win in your first trip to the NCAAs, its an incredible accomplishment," sophomore goal keeper Haley Exner said. "It's an amazing feeling to know that you're one of the top eight teams in the country at the end of the season." \nDuring Sunday's second-round action, the Hoosiers' magical season came to an end when they suffered a 5-0 loss at the hands of No. 2 University of Wake Forest, the three-time defending national champions.\nFirst Team All-Big Ten selection junior Lydia Schrott continued to shine Saturday, playing on the biggest stage of her career. Schrott scored all three Hoosier goals in the win over UNC as she recorded her second hat trick of the season.\nIU struck first halfway through the first period when a missed shot by junior Morgan Miller was tapped in by Schrott to give the Hoosiers the 1-0 advantage into halftime. Exner secured the IU lead when she stifled a pair of Tar Heel corners as time ran out in the first half. Exner totaled 13 saves in the contest. \nOnly one minute into the second half, Schrott struck again with her 16th goal of the season to increase IU's lead to 2-0. UNC quickly retaliated with two goals of their own, the second scored with 23 minutes remaining in the game. \nWith 19 minutes to play, Big Ten Player of the Year senior Kayla Bashore drew a penalty corner that led to Schrott's third goal, and the eventual historic game-winner for the Hoosiers. Again, Exner and the IU defensive unit secured the victory when they stifled two more Tar Heel penalty corners with under a minute remaining in the game. \nSaturday's first-round victory set up a second-round showdown with three-time defending champion Wake Forest. The Hoosiers and the Demon Deacons battled earlier in the year at Winston Salem, a game IU lost, 4-2. But Sunday's matchup had more than regular season bragging rights on the line -- a trip to the Final Four was at stake. \nEarly in the game, the defending champs displayed the offensive fire power that propelled them to three straight titles. After 10 minutes of play, the Demon Deacons held a 2-0 lead, and they never looked back. Wake added two more goals in the first half and another in the second to seal the 5-0 victory and a trip to Louisville, this year's site of the Final Four. \n"They came out strong from the opening whistle," Miller said. "They scored early and from there we just couldn't get any momentum going. They played an incredible game."\nThe loss ended the Hoosiers' historic 2005 campaign, a season that saw them break a number of team records, but most importantly, according to Robertson, established IU as a national power.\n"We had high expectations going into this year and we were extremely successful in meeting most of those," Robertson said. "This was the most special season I've ever been a part of in field hockey. It's difficult to come from nowhere and build a program that can compete at the national level, but we've put our program on the map this season"