Sept. 17, 2005

Final Stats

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Lindsay Rothenberger lit up the scoreboard to carve into a second-half deficit, but No. 12 Indiana scored three times off penalty corners and four times overall, hanging on to defeat Ohio 4-1 Saturday in non-conference field hockey action in the John Mellencamp Pavilion.

The Hoosiers (5-1) took a 1-0 lead into the break, then scored twice more out of intermission to take a commanding lead. Rothenberger (Fleetwood, Pa.) scored her second goal of the season to cut the deficit back to two, but Indiana scored once more at the end of regulation to preserve the home victory over Ohio (1-5).

"I was really happy again with the way we played," said Ohio Head Coach Neil Macmillan. "We played tough for a full 70 minutes. We made just a few little errors and they were able to capitalize off them."

Indiana's Lydia Schrott accounted for all of the game's scoring in the first frame, tapping in an unassisted tally from the middle of the circle at the 23:28 mark to give the Hoosiers a 1-0 lead into halftime. Schrott scored again to open up the second half. Picking up a missed shot off a penalty corner, Schrott scored at 42:47 and put Indiana up by a pair. The lead swelled to three just better than three minutes later. Again using a penalty corner, Indiana's Nikki Orciuch hung another tally on the board at 45:53.

Nearing the close of the contest, Rothenberger and the Bobcat offense came alive. The senior caught the deflection off a Rachelle Coetzee (Bloemfontein, South Africa) shot and pushed it past Indiana's Haley Exner, spoiling the shutout effort and pulling the Bobcats to within two.

Despite providing the lone goal, Macmillan said he was most impressed with Rothenberger's efforts defensively.

"She did a great job of defending Kayla Bashore, who is on the national team," he said. "Bashore was really a non-factor today."

After Rothenberger's goal, the Hoosiers would score once more, as Morgan Miller found the back of the net off a penalty corner as time expired.

For the game, Indiana outshot Ohio 15-6 and won the battle of penalty corners 7-4. Exner made three stops, while Bobcat goaltender Jennifer Cote (Raynham, Mass.) notched five saves. Chelsea Mearig (Lititz, Pa.) and Amanda Arnold (Oceanport, N.J.) each were credited with a defensive save, the first for Ohio players in 2005.

The Bobcats will now move out of non-conference play and into the Mid-American Conference slate next weekend.

"We're doing a good job," Macmillan said. "It's nice to get out of the non-conference games and start to focus on our conference opponents."

The Bobcats will stay on the road next weekend and begin the 2005 MAC portion of the schedule. Ohio will face Ball State at 3 p.m. Friday in Muncie, Ind., then take on Miami at 1 p.m. Saturday in Oxford, Ohio.