No. 18 Indiana upsets No. 15 Northwestern 4-1 during weekend

After a back-and-forth first half, the Hoosiers woke up.

The IU field hockey team scored three goals in the second half to win 4-1 against No. 15 Northwestern.

In the first half, the tempo was set by Northwestern with the ball mostly on the Hoosiers side of the field. However, in the 21st minute, IU got on the board with senior forward Katie Griswold’s goal from junior forward Morgan Fleetwood.

“I felt as though we let them dictate a little too much in the first half,” IU Coach Amy Robertson said. “We tried to go where they had numbers defensively. I said, look, trust yourselves. We need to find (where) there’s open players — let’s move the ball. We need to switch the field and find those players that are making great leads in wide open space.”

In the second half, the Hoosiers responded.
 
In the 42nd minute, senior forward and midfielder Jaclyn Zamudio netted a goal to give IU a 2-0 lead. Three minutes later, sophomore back Danielle McNally notched her first goal of the season off a deflection.

The Hoosiers weren’t finished, as freshman forward and midfielder Audra Heilman scored to put IU up 4-0.

The Wildcats were able to get on the board with a goal in the 68th minute.
However, the match had already been decided. The final whistle blew, giving the Hoosiers a 7-2 record.

Defensively, the Hoosiers focused on Chelsea Armstrong, a junior forward who is the centerpiece for the Wildcat attack.

“We knew that (Chelsea) was a really solid player,” freshman goalkeeper Maggie Olson said. “Their offense sort of surrounds around her. We made sure that she was shut down, and we just made sure that we were organized and had high communication.”

Olson had a great day in the net, recording nine saves. In the first half of the season, both Olson and Vicki Green got significant playing time, but it appears as though Olson has earned the job for at least the time being.

“We have two great goalkeepers,” Robertson said. “It’s a nice dilemma to have. Maggie was tremendous today. She kept them very organized, kept them pretty calm. She had a lot of help from her backs (who) were right there contesting every shot and every circle entry.”

Senior forward Brenna Moeljadi continued her superb season, recording two assists and two defensive saves, adding to her IU record and giving her 10 defensive saves in her career.

The Hoosiers will continue their Big Ten schedule, squaring off against Ohio State at 3 p.m. Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

“I said to the team, ‘First Big Ten win this season — we have that vision and that encouragement that this season holds something special,’” Robertson said. “‘We can celebrate that today, but tomorrow, it’s what got us here was every day not being satisfied.’”