Hoosiers Suffer Overtime Loss, 2-1, Against No. 18 Iowa

Friday, September 30

Bloomington, IN

3 PM

Indiana University

(6-5)

Iowa

(7-4)

OT 2

Iowa

Indiana

Hoosiers Suffer Overtime Loss, 2-1, Against No. 18 Iowa

9/30/2016 7:26:00 PM | Field Hockey

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Giese opens account with her first career goal in Indiana’s first overtime defeat

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Hoosiers came one chance short of a top-20 upset in their 2-1 overtime defeat against the 18^th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes (7-4, 1-3). Indiana (6-5, 1-2) forced overtime after Kelsey Giese netted her 1-1 equalizer with 10 minutes remaining in regulation. In the 72^nd minute of the overtime period, Iowa's Natalie Cafone linked with Katie Birch on the fast break, and Birch struck home the game-winner.

"It was such a hard-fought game, and we did a good job to put our team in a position to be successful, because our defense played phenomenally," said Indiana head coach Amanda Janney. "For them to shut down #9 (Cafone) for as long as we did was outstanding because we were playing against a really talented forward. We want to make sure we're taking all the good things from today and moving forward, because I think we're playing really good hockey right now. We just need to keep executing our style of play in October."

Barber led the attack with four shots, two on frame, but snapped her nine-game scoring streak in the loss. Taylor Pearson also mustered two shots on frame, including one that nearly found Sam Scire across the cage for an open goal.

Mollie Getzfread set the pace for an uncompromising effort from the Hoosier defense, which held Iowa scoreless through the first half of play and stumped six Hawkeye penalty corners. Malia Fujisawa and Nora Aucker shared the task of containing Cafone, Iowa's top scorer this season, at zero shots on frame.

"Mollie was a standout for us in the midfield today. In the middle of play with tons of space in the midfield, she was coming up with clean, solid tackles," Janney said, highlighting the individual performances in the backfield battle. "We put the task to Nora to shut down their best player, and I think Nora did a great job to start the first half for us and limit her touches. At the end of the first half, we put Malia there and she did a great job stepping up and making intercepts like we know she can do."

A game loaded with clutch defensive plays and tenacious counterattacks came to a head in the 53^rd minute, when Iowa broke the tie on Sophie Plasteras' 1-0 goal. Plasteras stormed into the circle on an unassisted run and sent her shot to the left-hand corner.

Giese cleaned up a scramble on Indiana's fifth and final penalty corner of the afternoon to extend the game to overtime. Kate Barber slugged the initial attempt on a penalty corner, but Iowa keeper Alexandra Pecora parried it away. After Pecora again deflected a second chance attempt from Morgan Dye, Giese seized the rebound and hoisted it into the top netting.

"I saw it come off of their defender, and it was right in front of me. I was thinking, 'I cannot miss this.'" Giese said of her account-opening score. "I wish it could've happened a little earlier in the season, but it gave me a lot of confidence knowing that I can play in the backfield and on the attack."

The Hawkeyes nearly scored a go-ahead goal in the 66^th minute. Isabella Solaroli whipped a backhand chance from a short angle, which beat Noëlle Rother's save attempt but met Fujisawa's stick for a defensive save. The game-preserving play was Fujisawa's second defensive save of the season.

"We really started playing together," Getzfread diagnosed Indiana's success after halftime. "We are a second half team, which is something we need to work on. But we came out with a lot of fight in the second half to get attacking corners."

Both Indiana and Iowa carried yellow cards into the overtime period, which made for a wide-open five-on-five scenario in the field. The Hoosiers began to break into Iowa's circle before the Hawkeyes made a crucial intercept to start their counterattack. On the breakaway, Cafone re-entered from her yellow card service and drove downfield to set up Birch's game-winning score.

Up Next: Indiana (6-5, 1-2 Big Ten) at Miami (6-5, 2-0 MAC)
Sunday, October 2 • 1:00 p.m. • Live Stats / GameTracker
Miami Field Hockey Complex • Oxford, Ohio

The Hoosiers are anxious for another chance to earn a Big Ten win, but they'll face a tough road test at Miami University before they get their chance next weekend. Indiana has long awaited this rematch against the Redhawks, who beat Indiana in the Hoosiers' home opener last season.

"There's definitely still a bad taste in our mouth from last year," Janney said. "We really thought that was a winnable game for us, but I thought we got outplayed; Miami played really well last year. Knowing how good we're playing right now and the pace we're playing, we expect to come out strong and aim for a score in the first half."

Follow all of Sunday's action, and keep up with the Hoosiers throughout their 2016 campaign, on Twitter @HoosiersFH.