IU field hockey team falls to Louisville on Senior Day

Playing its first midweek game since early in the season, the IU field hockey team never adjusted to the different routine, falling to Louisville 2-1 Wednesday on Senior Day.

No. 12 Louisville (13-5) took advantage of many penalty corner opportunities – especially in the first half – to score its two goals. IU gave up nine penalty corners in the first half and 12 for the game.

Louisville’s Nicole Youman took advantage of one of the first-half penalty corners, scoring the period’s lone goal.

IU coach Amy Robertson said she felt “bewildered” by her team’s play. They were sloppy and lacked confidence for the first 35 minutes, she said.

“If you’re going to give up nine penalty corners, a team should score at least one of those,” Robertson said. “One time you’re going to step wrong somewhere. Louisville is well coached, and you can’t give up that many corners to them.”

The Hoosiers allowed a second penalty corner goal at the beginning of the second half. Cardinal forward Tuli Lim scored to give her team a 2-0 lead.

IU junior forward Alina Valenti saved IU from its second consecutive shutout when she scored a rebound goal with less than two minutes to play.

Once again, Robertson pointed to a lack of confidence to explain IU’s offensive struggles. The offensive unit tenses up and begins making mistakes as soon as it enters the scoring circle, Robertson said.

“We can’t all of a sudden force things that aren’t there,” she said. “We’ve got to read the play and know what is happening around us. We need to have better goal-scoring positions and just more confidence.”

At the game, IU honored its two seniors, Dani Castro and Katie Kiper. While that meant flowers and gifts from the coach and team, Castro tried not to focus on the festivities.

“Even though it was Senior Day, (Katie and I) treated it like a regular game, and that’s what it ultimately was,” she said. “When you play a ranked team like that, it has to be a team effort. Today there was just a loss of something that we couldn’t gain back. We couldn’t find it until later in the game.”

IU concludes its regular season Saturday at Northwestern. The game, which will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network, will be the Hoosiers’ last chance to improve their seeding in the Big Ten Tournament the following week in Bloomington.

“We lost confidence today,” Kiper said, re-emphasizing her coach’s message. “And we have to gain it back before we play again.”