Three straight losses for the IU field hockey team has put IU in the middle of the Big Ten pack.
Two key conference matchups lie ahead for IU this weekend as it travels to Columbus, Ohio, on Friday to take on Ohio State (7-5), then returns home to face Penn State (5-8) on Sunday.
“They’re definitely must-win games, but are winnable games,” senior defender Sydney Supica said. “I think we have a really good opportunity going into this weekend, we’re just preparing for both of them in practice by working hard every day.”
The goalie matchup Friday will be one to look forward to. Ohio State’s Liz Tamburro leads the conference in saves with 72 while IU’s freshman keeper Noelle Rother is third with 64.
IU will rely on sophomore forward Maddie Latino to put the ball past Tamburro, after scoring seven goals throughout the last five games.
Ohio State currently sits third in the conference standings with a record of 3-1. All of its conference wins have come against three of the four teams at the bottom of the standings.
The Hoosiers have had their struggles on the road this season, owning a 1-5 record on foreign turf. A road win for the Hoosiers is much needed as they head into their final five games of the season looking to make a push to secure a spot in the conference tournament.
“Driving on the bus really drags out the trip,” sophomore midfielder Taylor Pearson said. “It’s hard, but we’ve been successful on the road before, so I think we can do it. We’ve just been in a funk these past couple of games and we have to get out of it.”
IU will return home to play Penn State on Sunday.
Penn State is in a similar situation to IU. The Nittany Lions have had their fair share of struggles on the road this season owning a 1-5 road record as well.
The only conference win of the season for Penn State was a 6-1 victory against a Michigan State team that took down IU last weekend in overtime.
“We want to secure our spot in the tournament,” Pearson said. “Having these wins this weekend will really help us with that.”
Penn State has been shutout in its last three games, two of those being against non-conference opponents, but both on the road. The other shutout came at home against No. 7 Maryland who sits atop the Big Ten standings.
Before heading to Bloomington they’ll face Rutgers, who is winless in the conference.
After facing No. 1 Syracuse last Sunday, the Hoosiers feel they are certainly up for the challenge that lies ahead this weekend.
“We can take Syracuse’s speed away from that game,” Supica said. “Knowing now that we’ve played against technically the best offense and defense in the nation and held them to a pretty tight game, we know for the future that it’s definitely doable.”
