Sept. 9, 2010

ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio Field Hockey closes a four-game road swing this weekend in Bloomington, Ind., with contests against Cal on Friday at 3 p.m. and the host Hoosiers on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Ohio has only allowed six goals through its first five contests, however the offense has failed to score in three of five games this season resulting in a 1-4 start to the season. Goalkeeper Courtney Seiders has played well, making 19 saves and averaging only 1.53 goals allowed per contest. The Bobcats do hold the edge over their opponents in penalty corners and have also out-shot their opposition this season 61-39.

Taylor Brown leads Ohio with four goals and and eight points while seven Bobcats have earned a point this season. Laura Mastro is second on the team with three points while Brooke Edwards, Katharine Ballard and Louzeth Schutte each have two points.

Schutte was named the Mid-American Conference's Defensive Player of the Week by the conference office on September 1. The redshirt junior returned to game action after missing most of 2009 and scored the goal that eventually sent the game against nationally-ranked Ohio State into overtime.

Ohio leads the all-time series against Indiana, 3-2, with the Bobcats winning last year, 1-0, in Athens. Katherine Ballard's first-half goal provided the difference as the Bobcats were out-shot 21-9 and came away with a win against the No. 18 Hoosiers at Pruitt Field. Seiders made 13 saves to earn the shutout in goal for the Green & White.

The Bobcats are 1-2 all-time against the Golden Bears with the last meeting coming in a NCAA Play-in game during 2006. Ohio dropped that contest 1-0 and that team started the string of three MAC titles in four years that the current squad is looking to prolong.

Indiana will provide GameTracker live stats on Friday and Sunday. Links to those games can be found by clicking here.

Opponents
Cal earned its first win of the season last week when it topped UC Davis, 5-1, in their NorPac opener. This came after consecutive 4-3 defeats at the hands of Miami (Oh.) and then-No. 7 Michigan State. Cal swept this week's NorPac Player of the Week honors as sophomore Claire Dougherty won West Offensive Player of the Week, freshman Andrea Earle won West Rookie Player of the Week and freshman Shannon Elmitt won West Defensive Player of the Week. Dougherty scored three times last week, and is tied with Megan Psyllos for the team lead. Earle tallied two goals against UC Davis, while Elmitt recorded a defensive save and an assist against the Aggies. 

IU suffered a tough 1-0 loss to No. 9 Boston College in its first game of the UMass Invitational last weekend. Goalkeeper Becky Pany recorded a career-high nine saves in her second career start in goal. Boston College outshot Indiana, 15-5, on the game and recorded six penalty corners to the Hoosiers' two. The Hoosiers recovered with a 2-1 win over UMass. Brenna Moeljadi and Morgan Fleetwood scored the goals while Kelsey Kiper and Fleetwood were credited with assists. Indiana outshot UMass, 14-10, on the game. UMass recorded nine penalty corners to IU's eight.