Field hockey defeats No. 8 Louisville in overtime

The IU field hockey team topped No. 8 Louisville 3-2 on Tuesday with a game-winning goal by junior forward Corey Brautigam in overtime.

After the goal, Brautigam said fatigue had taken its toll.

“I was almost too tired to celebrate,” Brautigam said.

IU opened the game at the IU Field Hockey Field with a goal at the 12-minute mark when junior back Brenna Moeljadi scored off a penalty corner.

For the remainder of the first half, IU possessed the ball well and kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard.

“Louisville’s always been one of our biggest rivals,” freshman defender Hannah Boyer said. “Coming off the games that we’ve had recently, we knew that we had to contain them in the first half, and we needed to get up on the scoreboard first to kind of threaten them a little bit.”

Louisville played a much better second half, earning a 9-3 advantage on penalty corners. Louisville scored two goals in a two-minute span early in the half to take a 2-1 lead.

“We had a bit of a mental lapse in the second half,” Boyer said. “Once they tied, and then they put in the second goal, we got down on ourselves a little bit. But we knew we had to come out of it.”

Brautigam said part of the issue early in the second half was mental.

“We played with a lot of heart today,” Brautigam said. “We did lose some motivation before they scored the two goals. The energy got down. They scored two goals. We called timeout, and we knew we had to pick it up.”

And pick it up they did.

IU earned two of its three second-half penalty corners in the last 30 seconds of the half.

As time expired in the second half, the Hoosiers had one opportunity to prolong the game, and Moeljadi knocked in the game-tying goal.

During the huddle prior to the penalty corner, confidence was high.

“We knew it was our last chance to score,” Brautigam said. “We had one more opportunity and that we had to capitalize on it. We took it like practice.”

And then in overtime, Brautigam put in the final goal to end the game and secure the victory.

IU coach Amy Robertson goal said she was pleased to see Brautigam deliver the game-winning goal.

“Corey is such a talented player,” Robertson said. “I don’t think sometimes she realizes how good she is. She sees what she can do, and she takes charge on this team. I think she had a performance she can really build on.”

The confidence gained from the dramatic win will benefit the Hoosiers as they travel to Northwestern on Friday, Boyer said.

“We definitely needed this win,” Boyer said. “Beating Louisville just really brings our confidence up. Having this win is something great to carry with us.”