It took ten games, but IU Coach Amy Berbary said her team finally found its identity.
The Hoosiers lost 1-0 to No. 13 Wisconsin on Friday, but Berbary walked away relatively pleased after the narrow loss.
She said after struggling to determine what traits would define the 2014 Hoosiers, the team played its best when it came out angry. She liked her team’s grit, and told them they needed to be angry that they come up short.
That’s the fight she wants to see moving forward.
“I thought we came out today with a purpose,” Berbary said. “I mean, we were good. We kept the energy up knowing who they were. We didn’t back down for one second.
“We just came up short today.”
Wisconsin got on the board in the 12th minute by capitalizing on a broken play.
A cross into the box from the right endline was missed by two potential Badger targets, but Wisconsin forward Molly Laufenberg found the ball alone from 10 yards out on the left side of the box.
Laufenberg was able to gather the ball and score inside right post, just barely squeezing the ball passed IU junior goalkeeper Sarah Stone.
“It’s like a 2-second mental lapse,” senior midfielder Abby Smith said. “Besides that little play, I feel like we owned the game.”
The Hoosiers nearly tied it up with 10 minutes in the first half when freshman defender Mykayla Brown got endline and sent a cross into the box.
The Wisconsin goalkeeper misplayed the cross and left Smith with a point-blank scoring opportunity that was blocked by a Wisconsin defensive player.
There wasn’t much else Smith could have done, and she said she knew it.
After the game she was still kicking herself after how close it was to being a tie game.
“I thought I had it,” Smith said. “Man, it was going in if that girl didn’t hit it. But yea, it was frustrating.”
With the loss, IU has now dropped four of five Big Ten games to start the conference season.
The Hoosiers (5-5, 1-3) will have another opportunity to score points Sunday at noon when they play Minnesota at Jerry Yeagley Field.
“The good news is, we’re still in control of our own destiny,” Berbary said. “But we still play some great teams. We’ve just go to continue to take it one game at a time and try to push this one back, be disappointed tonight but take that disappointment and put it into the gameplan on Sunday.”
