Field Hockey team takes both games in early West Coast road trip

When freshman field hockey midfielder Kelsey Kiper came to IU this year, she joined her sister Katie, a junior forward on the team. As IU opened the season in California this weekend, the siblings made their presence felt on the field. \nIn the second half of Saturday’s opener against University of the Pacific, Kelsey took a pass from her sister Katie and beat the goalkeeper for the first goal of the Hoosiers’ season. \n“Our first goal of the year was by a freshman, which is awesome,” IU coach Amy Robertson said. “It was a nice sister connection on that one.”\nThe Hoosiers took the match against Pacific 2-1 and carried their momentum into Sunday, notching a 2-0 win over University of California, Berkeley.\nAgainst Pacific, the Hoosiers scored two unanswered goals in the second half on the way to their first victory of the season. Senior forward Kate O’Connell added the second goal of the game for IU. \n“We put ourselves under pressure a lot in the first half,” Robertson said. “But I think we figured out how to relieve that pressure and handle possessions much better in the second half.”\nAfter falling behind 2-0, Pacific put more pressure on the Hoosier defense and broke through for a late goal.\n“They started firing shots into our end after we got up 2-0,” Robertson said. “They were trying to catch us out of position and took really quick free hits. They didn’t really have a lot of possession, but they kept us under pressure.” \nWhen the Hoosiers topped Cal 2-0 on Sunday, it was two other sisters – senior Kate O’Connell and her sister, sophomore midfielder Meg O’Connell – who provided the offense for IU. \nMeg scored the first goal in the fourth minute of the game, and her sister Kate scored her second goal of the year just before the final buzzer. Kate’s goal was assisted by senior midfielder Meredith Brown and freshman back Brenna Moeljadi.\nSenior goalie Haley Exner recorded a shutout, and IU outshot Cal 9-7 on the game. \n“The team just stepped up their game to a whole new level today,” Robertson said. “I’m really impressed how well we adjusted to things that we learned from the game before.” \nAfter a successful road trip in California, the Hoosiers will return to Bloomington to face SUNY-Albany and Saint Louis University in their first home matches of the season.\n“I’m really proud of where we are,” Robertson said. “That’s the best I have seen out of our team since we started practicing. I’m glad we were able to play at this level so early in the season.”