Indiana head coach Amy Robertson said it best in her team’s huddle on a sunny Friday afternoon against conference rival, Penn State. “It’s a game of inches.”
Following a tough 3-2 loss in their last game against Ohio State, Coach Robetson’s team looked to come into Friday’s Big Ten matchup and redeem themselves against the 6th ranked Nittany Lions. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, the ball never seemed to roll their way, losing 6-2 to Penn State.
The visitors’ offense dominated the opening minutes of the game. 1:51 into the game, Penn State’s Kelsey Amy was able to score giving the Nittany Lions the early lead.
Just nine minutes later, the Nittany Lions were able to score again, converting on their second penalty corner, off the stick of Brittany Gryzwacz. The Hoosiers received three penalty corners in the first half and were unable to score on any due to strong defensive stops and great work by Halus in the cage.
After another Nittany Lion goal off of a fast break, the Hoosiers found themselves trailing by three going into halftime.
Following some unsuccessful yet strong offensive drives, the ladies in Cream and Crimson finally were able to respond to Penn State 10:17 into the second period.
Morgan Fleetwood netted her eight goal of the season off a deflection of Audra Heilman’s shot, plugging a spark for the IU offense. Less than three minutes later, down a player due to a penalty, Danielle McNally was able to send a rocket to the back of the cage, scoring for the Hoosiers and cutting their deficit to one.
Penn State responded quickly and often, scoring three unanswered points to close out the game, securing the victory over an Indiana team that is now on a two game losing skid.
Redshirt sophomore defender, Hannah Boyer, believes the team’s defense is making improvements but still needs everyone to get on the same page.
“We all just have to be stronger as a unit, we just have to pick our confidence back up,”
Indiana had its chances of putting points up on the board. It truly was a “game of inches” for the Hoosiers as they have now only been able to put up two points in each of their past two games.
“We had a lot of shots trickle by the post,” Fleetwood said. “We were in those positions to score; it was just not on our side today.”
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