IU entered Sunday afternoon’s game against Michigan State vying to establish some sort of momentum.
In their final road game of the season, the Hoosiers were able to win the majority of the possession battle in the second half. They just weren’t able to win the scoreline in a 3-1 loss to the Spartans.
The Spartans were the benefactors from a pair of penalty kicks in the first half by senior defender Mary-Kat Fiebernitz. The first PK was called during the 13th minute when junior defender Marissa Borschke tripped up sophomore forward Jamie Cheslik in the box, The second PK for Michigan State was drawn in the 18th minute as defender Emily Basten was accused of pushing freshman midfielder Michaela Kovacs to the ground off a set piece.
Fiebernitz shot both penalties past senior goalkeeper Sarah Stone’s left side, as Michigan State jumped out to an early two-goal lead.
“They responded so well,” IU Coach Amy Berbary said. “They were fired up. We started out pretty flat. They had the ball for the better part of the first 20 minutes. We went down two goals because of two unfortunate breaks. We’ve found ourselves in that situation a number of times this year.”
The Hoosiers responded minutes later on their lone chance for a penalty kick in the game as they drew a hand ball in the 16th minute. Senior midfielder Jessie Bujouves stepped up to the penalty spot and drilled a shot past the diving Spartan goalkeeper Gabrielle Gauruder to trim the deficit to just one goal.
“It’s definitely difficult to be down two goals in the first half,” Bujouves said. “Especially off two calls that may or may not have been penalty kicks. We responded really well, it was nice to get one in before halftime.”
Bujouves’ penalty kick was placed to the right side of the goal. Although Gauruder was able to get her hands on the shot, Bujouves put just enough pace to score.
“We’ve practiced penalty kicks so much,” Bujouves said. “I’ve taken them over and over again. It was kind of a habit for me. I knew where I wanted to put it. My natural tendency is to go right, that’s probably where I’m more comfortable.”
Despite controlling possession and the tempo of the game following Bujouves’ fourth goal of the season, the Hoosiers were not able to score again in East Lansing. The Spartans put the game out of reach in the 82nd minute when senior midfielder Kirsten Evans scored on a bending corner kick.
“When she scored that goal, it gave us a little bit of confidence,” Berbary said. “We started playing a little bit better, gained possession and made adjustments at halftime. When you have everybody playing really well, good things happen.”
Stone tallied seven saves for IU, but the team was outshot once again by a margin of 20 to 14.
IU dropped to 3-9-6 on the season and is still looking for its first Big Ten win of the season. Berbary’s squad will have one more chance to avoid a winless conference record as IU returns to Bloomington on Wednesday night for Senior Night against Purdue.
“It’s going to be a really emotional night,” Bujouves said. “For all of the seniors, it’s our last game playing in an Indiana jersey at Armstrong Stadium against our arch-rivals. We’ve had a really difficult season, but despite what’s happened, we’ve never been complacent with losing or tying. I couldn’t be more excited.”
