Field hockey to play Michigan State, Louisville this weekend

After a tough loss to conference rival Penn State Sunday, IU Field Hockey Coach Amy Robertson said her team isn’t discouraged by the result.

“The team is looking at a way to learn from it,” Robertson said. “They aren’t falling apart and thinking that we aren’t any good. It’s nice to see the team respond in a way that they think they can win these conference games.”

IU faces a tough set of games this weekend. They play their second conference game of the season against Michigan State at 3 p.m. Friday at the IU Field Hockey Complex and travel to Louisville, Ky., Sunday for a rematch against the Cardinals.

Michigan State has started the season with a 4-6 record, including a win in its first conference game against Ohio State last week.

Last season, the Spartans defeated the Hoosiers in East Lansing by a score of 3-0.
Sophomore midfielder Sydney Supica said she thinks the Michigan State game is a key point in the Hoosiers’ season.

“It’s our second Big Ten game, so it is a key point in our season,” Supica said. “It will give us a chance to see how well we can compete in other Big Ten games.”

Junior midfielder Corrine Karch said the team needs to get a good result against the Spartans in order to get back on track for Big Ten play.

Karch also said the team has been working hard in practice to try different things to get inside the circle more often.

“If we have a free hit outside we need to work into the circle,” Karch said. “We need to be more direct when we are playing two-on-one. We need to find the open player in order to get more shots.”

The last time the Hoosiers played the Cardinals was in their exhibition to open the season. IU won by a single point after two overtimes and a set of shootouts.

Since then, Louisville has gotten out to a hot start with a record of 8-2, including a 6-3 win on the road against Big Ten foe Ohio State.

In her last outing against the Hoosiers, freshman midfielder Jennifer Pels scored two goals off the bench, one in the second half and one in the first overtime period.

Robertson said the ball movement in the midfield will be a key on Sunday.

“Offensively, we need to play with purpose and continue to move the ball.” Robertson said. “We will have to play with a lot of speed. We also need to hold on to the ball when we attack and get numbers on fast breaks.”

Supica said the team learned a lot in its scrimmage at the beginning of the season.

“We learned a lot from Louisville,” she said. “It showed us a lot in the
scrimmage. It will be interesting to see how the team has grown since then.”

Follow reporter Dan Matney on Twitter @Dan_Matney.