The field hockey team picked a bad time to lose back-to-backgames.
After dropping games last weekend to No. 18 Northwestern and No.25 Delaware, Ball State's first consecutive losses of the season,the Cardinals (3-3) must now go to Iowa City to face No. 9 Iowa(2-2) today. They will then face Temple (3-3) Saturday.
Head coach Annette Payne said her team must move on after thelosses and focus on this weekend's games. She said the Cardinalsneed to take the good and the bad and learn from last weekend.
Payne said the tough losses at Northwestern helped the teamlearn to play better as a unit.
"Everybody on the team was an important factor (in lastweekend's games)," Payne said. "Everyone from the freshman to thesenior class was asked to contribute last weekend. It goes back tothe whole thing that everybody on the team is just as important aseverybody else."
Payne is now turning her sights to a familiar opponent. Sheplayed midfield at Iowa from 1994 to 1997 and was an assistantcoach with the Hawkeyes during the 1999-2000 school year.
As if playing a Top Ten team on the road after two losses wasn'tenough, Payne must now deal with the emotions she will face at herhomecoming. Though she said it will be nice to visit her almamater, Payne said she's trying to stay as focused as she can.
"If I were going up there on my own, it would be different,"Payne said, "but I'm going up there for a reason. There's a homefootball game there, so it's going to be a crazy weekend. I justwant to stay away from all that and not get distracted."
In order to keep her focus on the game, Payne said she has toapproach the contest as she would any other. She has preached thisto her squad all season long.
"I'm not treating (the Iowa game) as any different," Payne said."It's just as important as any other game. For me what's importantis that the team plays well and the team competes and the teamsteps up."
Senior Afton Hess should be ready to play. After making theAll-Mid American Conference First Team last season, Hess is againat the top of all major conference statistical categories thisyear. She is first in the MAC in points, goals, assists andgame-winning goals. She is also tied for third in shots.
At the top of another category is sophomore goalie TracyBannister, who is second in the MAC with 1.56 goals againstaverage. She is just 0.02 points behind Louisville's ChristyHershey for first.
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