IU field hockey finds confidence amidst defeat

Despite an overtime loss against No. 9 Penn State on Friday, the IU field hockey players felt they proved themselves proud by staying close.

Junior Lucy Ireland’s broken nose is the evidence.

Penn State’s Amy Bonenberger scored the game’s lone goal on a breakaway in the first minute of overtime to give the Nittany Lions their eighth consecutive win.

The defensive game often led to scrappy play by both teams. In the second half, a Penn State forward smashed her head into Ireland’s face, breaking her nose.

Undaunted by the injury, Ireland stayed on the field, not realize her nose was broken until later.

“I had to play through it to help the team,” Ireland said.

Ireland and her defensive unit put together one of their season’s best performances. After allowing 21 goals in its first four conference games, IU allowed only one of 20 shots past. Sophomore goalkeeper Alex Mann recorded nine saves for the Hoosiers.

“Our defense was awesome today,” Mann said. “We’re finally putting it all together.”
While the defense played well, the Hoosier offense struggled against the Big Ten conference’s best defense. The Nittany Lions’ defense has allowed 0.94 goals per game. After Friday’s contest, the team has eight shutouts on the season.

Junior forward Haley Funk recorded IU’s lone shot on goal in the sixth minute of the game. The Hoosiers added two shots the rest of the game, neither of which were on goal.

IU coach Amy Robertson credited the Penn State defense, saying they play well both individually and as a unit, and were almost impossible to penetrate.

While Robertson was disappointed in the loss, she said the team can learn from this contest.

“The game felt like it was more our game than Penn State’s today,” she said. “(Friday) we learned that we can play with any team in the Big Ten if we play hard. We can take a lot from this game.”

This game was the second time this season the Hoosiers lost by one goal against a top-10 team. On Sept. 14, then-No. 4 Wake Forest defeated IU 2-1. Sophomore Kelsey Kiper said these two games motivate the players and that they are disappointed in the losses.

“It’s frustrating because we know that we can beat them,” Kiper said. “It will give us extra motivation for the rest of the season.”

IU (7-8, 1-4) finishes the regular season this week with a Wednesday match at home against Louisville and their conference finale at Northwestern on Saturday. The Hoosiers will then host the Big Ten Tournament Nov. 6-9.