Field Hockey Challenged By No. 16 Iowa In 6-1 Loss

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State (1-9) field hockey team faced No. 16 Iowa (7-4, 1-1 Big Ten) in non-conference play Sunday afternoon and fell to the Hawkeyes 6-1 in a physical battle in which penalty corner opportunities were crucial in the momentum shifts throughout the matchup.

“I think when the team started to play with emotion and put trust in each other, we were pretty much unstoppable. Iowa is a great team, very skillful, and we were under pressure from them right from the start, but I know our team has the skills to be able to compete,” Ball State field hockey head coach Sally Northcroft said. “They can move the ball so well and do what they need to. I know they can do it, and they demonstrate it, and they do it at times, but we need to do it the full 70 minutes and from the beginning.”

The Cardinals and the Hawkeyes remained scoreless through just the first eight minutes of the game, until Iowa's Veronique Declercq scored her first of a hat trick performance. Iowa then tallied three more goals, to sit at a comfortable 4-0 lead by 44 minutes into the fast-paced game.

Junior Mikayla Mooney (St. Louis, Mo./Whitfield School) notched a goal for the second game in a row in the 55^th minute after Bianca Velez (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E. Kellum/Beach Premiere) took a shot on a breakaway, in which Mooney was set for the rebound. The play included Velez colliding with Iowa's goalkeeper Alexandra Pecora to leave the net open for Mooney's rebound ten yards out.

“To see Mikayla take that shot on goal from the top of the circle was great,” Northcroft continued. “From a team standpoint for us, when we had forwards like Bethany Han and Bianca Velez stepping up on the forward line and putting pressure on the ball was great. I think Anya Eicher did a great job reading the play and being a support for them. Defensively, I think Cameron Daniels is doing a phenomenal job, I think we just struggled in giving her good options and the back good options passing wise, so they felt pressured.”

Iowa then closed out the scoring with goals off a penalty stroke opportunity, as well as another penalty corner attempt to finalize the score at 6-1 in favor of the nationally-ranked Hawkeyes.

Back in net, junior goalkeeper Jordan Dues (Fallbrook, Calif./Fallbrook) made her tenth start of the season and recorded five saves when faced with 19 attempted shots.

Hammering Dues was an aggressive Iowa offense, which tallied 11 shots on goal from the 19 attempted, compared to the Cardinals six attempted shots with five on net.

Ultimately, penalty corner opportunities in the non-conference matchup were detrimental, as four of the six goals were scored off the advantage. The Hawkeyes greatly benefitted from 11 penalty corner opportunities to Ball State's six attempts at the top of the circle.

“I want it so much for them, and know they have the skills to do it, but we need to work on that in the next couple weeks for sure,” said Northcroft. “The team is talking about their trust and belief in each other and knowing when we go together as a team, we will do some wonderful things but it's very demanding physically and trusting that what the coaches are asking them to do and executing that on a regular and continual basis is going to be critical for us.”

Up next, the Ball State field hockey team will embark on a three-game road stretch, in which they will begin Mid-American Conference play. The matchups include Longwood, non-conference Virginia Commonwealth and Miami.

For the most up-to-date news on Ball State field hockey, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateFH on Twitter.

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Team Stats

Mikayla Mooney

VELEZ Bianca

HAN Bethany

JARDELL Natalie

Players Mentioned

Cameron Daniels

Jordan Dues

Anya Eicher

Bethany Han

Mikayla Mooney

Bianca Velez

Players Mentioned

Cameron Daniels

Jordan Dues

Anya Eicher

Bethany Han

Mikayla Mooney

Bianca Velez