Indiana University Athletics
Field Hockey Home Opener Preview (9-02-02)
9/2/2002 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
September 2, 2002
Bloomington, IN - The Indiana field hockey team faces the University of Maine tomorrow, September 3, at 10:30 a.m. in Mellencamp Pavilion. The Hoosiers enter the contest 1-0, and the Black Bears enter 1-1. This is the first match up between the Hoosiers and the Black Bears.
Over the Weekend
The Hoosiers defeated Miami University (Ohio) in their season opener, with a score of 4-1. IU entered intermission down 1-0, but rallied back in the second half to score four goals.
Senior co-captain Erica Nilsson (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) led the Hoosiers with two goals. Her first goal came 1:59 into the second half to even the score at 1-1. She scored the final goal for IU with 13:38 remaining in the contest. Kimberly Nash (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) assisted on both goals.
Kayla Bashore (Shoemakersville, Pa./Hamburg) broke the tie on an unassisted flick into the cage. Within two minutes, Nash put one in to make the score 3-1.
Senior goalkeeper Molly Pulkrabek (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) made 10 saves for the Hoosiers and posted a percentage of .909.
Opening the season with win has had a positive affect on the team and the program.
"Proving to ourselves that we could win on the road was a huge uplift for the program," head coach Amy Robertson said. "Getting our first win has made everyone very happy which in turn has positively influenced our team cohesiveness. The win was especially satisfying because it showed we could not only win on the road but come from behind and score a lot of goals in a hurry against a good team."
The Black Bears of Maine opened up their season this weekend and fell short against Southwest Missouri State on Saturday, but rallied against Saint Louis on Sunday with a 5-0 victory. Senior forward Tara Bedard (Skowhegan, Maine/Skowhegan) led the Black Bears with seven points (three goals, one assist). Bedard scored all three of her goals on Sunday against Saint Louis.
Jen Johnstone (Dallas, Pa./Lake-Lehman), Karly Bundy (Kennebunk, Maine/Kennebunk), and Kristy Ferran (Winslow, Maine/Winslow) have each tallied a goal apiece.
Record Books
In the win against Miami (Ohio), the Hoosiers tied their career record for most goals scored in a game, with four. Individual records were also tied. Erica Nilsson tied the record for the most goals scored in a game, with two.
Kimberly Nash established her name in the record book in her performance against the RedHawks. Her two assists to teammate, Nilsson, tied the most assists in a game.
An Experienced Black Bear Team
The University of Maine returns 16 players and welcomes nine newcomers to the squad. The Black Bears frontline features five returnees, who combined to account for over half of UMaine's 42 goals last season. During the 2001 campaign, Tara Bedard tallied six goals and Kristy Ferran contributed four. Karyn Magno added nine goals and three assists for a total of 21 points.
The Black Bear also return experience in the midfield. Jen Johnstone, a two-time NFHCA Regional All-American, led her squad with 11 goals and 27 points last season. Johnstone scored eight of her goals off of penalty corners, and tallied two goals on penalty strokes.
On defense, although the Black Bears lost three key performers, including two starters, they will look to senior co-captain Kim Leo and junior Rebecca Ouellet for leadership in the backfield.
Returning in the cage for UMaine is Jaye Lance, who started all 18 games last season. Lance finished third in the America East in goals against with a 1.69 GAA.
Oh Captain, My Captain
Seniors Erica Nilsson and Akila Jones have been named the 2002 captains for the field hockey team.
Last season Nilsson started in all 17 games and recorded seven points on three goals and an assist. Those numbers ranked her second in most points scored in a single season. Nilsson excelled in the classroom as well, receiving Academic All-Big Ten honors.
Akila Jones started in 17 games during the 2001 campaign. Jones was recognized as an Alpha Beta honoree, and earned IU Aline Robinson Mental Attitude Award.
Familiar Foes
IU and the University of Maine will face only one common opponent, Saint Louis. The Black Bears went up against Saint Louis in their second contest of the season and came away with the victory 5-0. The Hoosiers will meet Saint Louis on October 26.
Amy Robertson Regarding Tuesday's Match Up
"We hope to improve on our positioning and off ball movement in the game on Tuesday. We will also focus on coming out in the first half and playing with more confidence and intelligence. One of our goals this season is to win every home game and in order to have the best chance of accomplishing that goal we need to perform at our current best for a full 70 minutes."
"No matter what the outcome of our games this season I know one thing for sure, this year's field hockey team will be very exciting to watch. We have a highly committed group and a very hungry squad. We still suffer, however, from a slight lack of confidence and belief in ourselves. Once we overcome this mental hurdle our squad is capable of doing great things, much greater than they are currently aware of. I've been around a lot of great teams and I believe this squad is one in the making. They have the tools they just need to gain more experience in a hurry."
Meet the Coaching Staff
Indiana Head Coach Amy Robertson
Amy Robertson is in her third season as the head field hockey coach. Robertson came to Indiana to lead the Hoosiers in their inaugural season.
Robertson began her coaching career in 1988; she spent one year as a student assistant coach at UMass. She left in 1989, to take a position as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, where she remained until 1992, and earned a master's degree in sports psychology. Robertson joined the Hoosiers after serving as an assistant coach at Wake Forest for three seasons.
Robertson has coached 10 athletes who have played on the National Team, during or after their collegiate careers, 10 All-Americans along with six Under-18 and Under-21 National Team members. Robertson was directly responsible for recruiting three of the National Team members, one of the Under-21 players and a pair of the Under-18 players.
Robertson also enjoyed an outstanding collegiate career as a defender at UMass. She helped the Minutewomen to a combined 56-19-6 record and four trips to the NCAA Tournament in four years. Massachusetts advanced to the NCAA final four and finished the season ranked No. 3 in the nation in 1987, her senior season. In four years, Robertson tallied four goals and six assists from her defensive position. She capped off her career by being named to the Northeast Region All-America team as a senior.
Robertson was also a four-year letterwinner on the UMass lacrosse team. She was named the 1987-88 Outstanding Two-Sport Athlete at Massachusetts and was a North-South All-Star selection in lacrosse. She was named Northeast Region All-American in both her junior and senior seasons of lacrosse.
After earning a bachelor's degree in exercise science from UMass in 1988, Robertson played with the United States Field Hockey squad from 1988-1990. She was a member of the 1989 U.S. Reserve Team and a two-time Olympic Festival participant. A native of Evergreen, Colo., she was named the Colorado Sportswoman of the Year for Field Hockey in 1988.
Robertson is a member of the Holland Tunnel Club Team, a program that has won the national club championship each of the last five years. She is also part of the Under-16 National Team coaching staff and toured with the U18 Futures Elite team in Queensland, Australia this past summer. Robertson is a selector for the United States Field Hockey Association at the National Futures Tournament.
Indiana Assistant Coach Gina Lucido
Gina Lucido enters her second season as an assistant coach. She was the first assistant coach in school history for the Hoosiers.
Prior to coming to Bloomington Lucido had coaching stints at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. and Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. At Susquehanna she doubled as an assistant field hockey coach and served as the head lacrosse coach. As a field hockey coach, she was the primary recruiter and coordinated the defense as well as the pre and post-season conditioning of the team.
From 1995 to 1997, she was an assistant field hockey and lacrosse coach at Bucknell. Her responsibilities included all facets of daily coaching and recruiting duties as well as coordinating the spring season. She has also been involved with the USFHA Futures developmental program since 1995.
Lucido played college field hockey in Muncie at Ball State University from 1991 to 1994. During her stint, the Cardinals were two-time Mid-American Conference champions and two-time NCAA quarterfinalists. En route to earning her bachelor's degree in musical theatre, she was a three-time all-MAC Academic/Athletic selection, a two-time Regional All-American, and a CFHCA Athletic/Academic All-American in 1994. In addition, she was the first recipient of the Edith Patton Memorial Scholarship Award at Ball State in 1994. The award honors the school's student-athlete who has excelled academically and athletically and embodied outstanding character, exemplary leadership and overall personal integrity.
Indiana Graduate Assistant Reita Holmes
Reita Holmes returns to the field hockey team for her second season. Her main responsibilities include assisting with planning and implementation of practice, individual practice sessions with athletes, video review and match assessment.
Reita graduated from the University of New South Wales with a B.A. in Sports Science in 1997. In 1998, she received a Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. Holmes is currently completing a MS in Applied Sports Science at Indiana University.
Holmes has been playing field hockey for 17 years and coaching for eight. Throughout her playing career, she has made the NSW Under-18 and Under-21 Development Squads and the NSW Women's Open Squad.
Reita is a native of Sydney, Australia.
Indiana Volunteer Coach Sandy Willmott
Alexander "Sandy" Willmott returns to the Hoosier field hockey team for the third season as a volunteer assistant coach after serving as the IU field hockey club head coach in 1998 and 1999. His main focus of attention will be to develop and train the goalkeepers as well as assist with all on-field coaching duties.
Willmott brings a wealth of knowledge about the game from his homeland of Guildford, England. The Cambridge University (UK) graduate was also the institution's women's field hockey head coach from 1991-93. While coaching in Cambridge, Willmott led the team to its first promotion to the East Super League and he mentored six junior international team players.
Willmott earned a B.A. in Biological Sciences from Cambridge in 1991 and a PhD in Zoology in 1995. He is an English Hockey Association certified Level I umpire and was a 1995 South-East Regional Selector for the British University Sports Federation.
Currently Willmott is working towards his PhD in Sports Biomechanics at IU with special interest in field hockey mechanics.
University of Maine Head Coach
Terri Kix is entering her twelfth year as the head coach of the Black Bears. Kix has led her team to an overall record of 120-87-5, including the 1996 and 1994 ECAC Championships. Her 1996 squad set a school record for wins in a season with 17, surpassing the previous mark of 15.
Kix is a 1985 graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in sports marketing. She was a member of the field hockey team, which won the 1981 National Championship. In all her years as a field hockey player at UConn, Kix participated in the final four every season. In her junior and senior years Kix earned All-American honors, and in 1984 she was a member of the U.S. Under-21 National Team. She was selected as the 1985 Connecticut Female Athlete of the Year.
In 1998 the Black Bears ranked as high as 16th in the nation, placing them in the top 20 for the third time in school history. Her 1997 team finished fourth in the America East, earning its fifth consecutive post-season tournament appearance. In 1995 Kix led her team to an overall record of 12-8 and an appearance in the semifinals of the America East playoffs. In that same year Kix earned her second Coach of the Year honor.
In 1993, Kix guided the team to its first ever appearance in the America East Tournament and in doing so was selected as the North Atlantic Coach of the Year and the Northeast Region Coach of the Year.
Before coming to Maine, Kix was an assistant coach at UConn. As an assistant, she helped the Huskies to their second National Championship in 1985.
University of Maine Assistant Coaches
A new addition to the Black Bear coaching staff this year is Andrea Thebarge. Thebarge is a former standout at Skowhegan Area High School and Northeastern University.
At Northwestern Thebarge was a four-year letterwinner, where she earned All-America East honors in 1998. In her senior season she served as the team captain.
Prior to her arrival, Thebarge served as Region two coaching director (Massachusetts) for the United States Field Hockey Association's Futures Program. She also served as head coach of the regional U-19 team.
For the past two seasons, Thebarge served as head coach at the Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Mass.
Thebarge graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, with a minor in secondary education.
Assistant Coach Marina Shkarupina begins her second season with the UMaine field hockey team. While at Maine she is completing work on her degree in physical education.
Shkarupina is a native of Moscow, Russia, and played in 20 games over two seasons for the Black Bears. In Russia, Shkarupina helped lead her club team to the Russian club team championship in 1995, and she was a member of the Russian U-18 and U-21 teams from 1992 to 1996.
Quick Facts
Official Name: Indiana University
Founded: 1820
Enrollment: 36,000
Nickname: Hoosiers
Colors: Cream and Crimson
Conference: Big Ten
President: Myles Brand
Athletic Director: Michael McNeely
Field Hockey Information
Head Coach: Amy Robertson
Alma Mater: Massachusetts (1988)
Indiana Record: 3-28, 3rd Season
Career Record: Same
Assistant Coaches: Gina Lucido, 2nd season
Graduate Assistant: Reita Holmes
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 13/6
Starters Returning/Lost: 8/3
2001 Record: 1-16
2001 Big Ten Record: 0-6
Stadium: Mellencamp Pavilion
School: The University of Maine
Location: Orono, Maine
Founded: 1865
Enrollment: 10,200
Nickname: Black Bears
Colors: Blue and White
Affiliation: NCAA Division I
Home Field: Morse Field at Alfond Stadium
President: Dr. Peter Hoff
Athletic Director: Paul A. Bubb
Athletic Dept. Telephone: 207-581-1052
Team Information
Head Coach: Terry Kix
Record at Maine: 120-87-5
Assistant Coach: Andrea Thebarge
Student Assistant Coach: Marina Shkarupina
Field Hockey Office Phone: 207-581-2004
2001 Record: 10-8
2001 America East Record/Finish: 6-3/4th
Letterwinners Returning/Lost: 16/4
Starters Returning/Lost: 8/3
2002 Captains: Kim Leo, Karly Bundy
