Nov. 5, 2015
Final Stats
Nov. 5, 2015
Final Stats
| 3 | 1 |
| IU Field Hockey Complex | Bloomington, Ind. | 497 | |
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Scoring two goals in the final five minutes, No. 6 seed Penn State advanced to the semifinals of the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament, defeating No. 3 seed Indiana, 3-1, Thursday night at the Indiana Field Hockey Complex.
Penn State (9-9, 4-4) advances to the semifinals and will matchup with No. 2 seeded Michigan Friday at 4 p.m.
Penn State wasted no time getting on the board, scoring in the first 45-seconds of the game on a goal from Brooke Birosik (Ickesburg, Pa.).
The score would remain 1-0 Penn State until Indiana (9-10, 5-3) evened the game at 1-1 on a goal from Maddie Latino with 9:44 remaining. However, Penn State answered just four minutes, 44 seconds later on another goal from Birosik with 5:03 to go. Carly Celkos passed the ball into the circle to Aurelia Meijer, Meijer chipped it to Birosik, and Birosik one-timed the airborne ball into the back of the cage for the game-winner.
"I loved the way our kids came out," said head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss. "After waiting all day to play this game I love the energy they brought to this game. Brooke really got the momentum going obviously with such a quick goal a minute into the game."
Birosik's two goals gave her five consecutive for Penn State over the last two games, as she scored a hat trick in Penn State's regular season finale, a 3-2 win at No. 16 Northwestern.
Katie Dembrowski scored on an empty cage with 3:51 remaining to ice the win.
Penn State would end the game tied with Indiana in shots with 15 apiece, but won the battle of penalty corners 11-8 over Indiana.
"I feel that we played a really strong first half and then for some reason we seemed to have a spell," said Morett-Curtiss. "We gave up too many penalty corners and they took advantage of the opportunities. I told the team let's keep our poise, and be disciplined when we tackle and I thought we did a good job of that towards the end of the game. Cori Conley, Emilee Ehret, the entire backfield did a good job of stepping up in the last 10 minutes of the game."
Goalkeeper Jenny Rizzo would finish the game with eight saves, with five of those coming in the second half.
Penn State will face Michigan in the semi-finals tomorrow on BTN2GO at 4 p.m.
"Michigan is just a really strong, physical team," said Morett-Curtiss. "We need to make sure we keep the ball moving so we don't get into too many one-on-one situations with them. They pressure the ball really well; we've got to be on our toes to keep the ball moving"