Sept. 18, 2008

Box Score

Oxford, Ohio - Playing on the road on the campus of Miami (OH), the Pacific Field Hockey team could not get by the Hoosiers of Indiana, falling in overtime, 4-3, on Thursday, September 18. The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-5 on the season while the Hoosiers improved to 4-3 overall.

Pacific got off to a quick start against Indiana, storming out to a two goal lead in the first half of play behind strikes from sophomore Hayley Hull (San Diego, Calif.) and senior Sasha Larsen (Vista, Calif.).

Hull notched her first goal of the 2008 season in the 13th minute of play, receiving a pass from junior Kim Keyawa (Chico, Calif.) in the circle to set up the strike. Just 10 minutes later in the 24th minute, Larsen continued Pacific's press by following Hull's lead, notching her first goal of the season. Larsen took advantage of a free penalty shot after an Indiana defender took a foul inside of the penalty circle.

With a 2-0 lead coming out of the break, the Tigers saw their two goal lead cut to one just four minutes into the run of play in the second half on an unassisted goal by Kelsey Kiper. Despite the sudden shift in momentum, Pacific answered back in the 47th minute of play, scoring its third goal of the game on a penalty corner. Pacific's leading scorer on the season, senior Ashley Niccum (Simi Valley, Calif.) tallied her third goal of the year on the shot that was setup by junior Katy McDonough (Ventura, Calif.).

However, Indiana was not done scoring in the contest as the Hoosiers mounted a late comeback scoring two goals off of their own penalty corners in the final 15 minutes of play, with the last coming with just three minutes to play in the game. Indiana's two strikes evened the score at 3-3 and sent the game into overtime. Meg O'Connell and Danitra Castro scored the final two goals for Indiana.

With the momentum on their side from the late run in regulation, the Hoosiers did not waste anytime putting away the contest in the extra frame, scoring the game-winning strike just 1:30 into overtime. Kiper notched her second strike of the game on a breakaway in the overtime's 7-on-7 action.

For the contest, the Tigers posted 10 shots while the Hoosiers tallied 20. In goal, sophomore Christina Niccum (Simi Valley, Calif.) notched seven saves in the loss including one in overtime action.

The Tigers will hit the field for a second time at Miami (OH) on Saturday, September 20, when they take on Michigan State at 1:00 pm (ET).