Bloomington, Ind. – Indiana junior forward Rebecca Candler scored a pair of goals – her first goals since Aug. 20, 2010 at Evansville – to lead the Hoosiers (3-1) to a 4-1 victory over the Missouri State Bears (2-3) at Armstrong Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Joining Candler in the scoring column was Abby Smith with her first of the season and Lisa Nouanesengsy, who tallied her fifth goal of the year. Orianica Velasquez chipped in with two assists, as did Jessie Bujouves.

With Indiana controlling play from the start, goalkeeper Shannon Flower did not have to make any saves in her 62 minutes of action before she was replaced by Sarah Stone. Stone was forced to make a save less than one minute after getting on the pitch, the only save of the day for IU.

Candler got Indiana on the board first in the 15^th minute thanks to a nice touch pass from Orianica Velasquez. The native of Colombia chipped a ball perfectly over the Missouri State defender and Candler ran onto it, fighting off another defender and then blasted it inside the far post from the right side of the six-yard box for her first goal of the season.

Then in the 35^th minute, Abby Smith tallied her first goal of the season, taking a crossing pass from Jessie Bujouves on the left side of the goal 12 yards out, taking two touches and drilling the ball inside the far post to put the Hoosiers ahead, 2-0.

Just before halftime, Jordan Woolums found herself in on the Bears goalkeeper but her left-footed attempt to slide it by the goalkeeper was stopped and the Hoosiers took the 2-0 lead into the locker room.

In the 54^th minute, Candler went back on the attack and once again it was Velasquez providing the assist on a long pass that put Candler in on goal all alone behind the MSU defense and she was able to capitalize to give Indiana the 3-1 lead.

Just over one minute later, Lisa Nouanesengsy found herself in position to take a clear shot following a nifty pass by Bujouves and drilled it into the left corner of the goal for her fifth goal of the season. She entered this year with six goals in her career.

Indiana looked to add to its goal haul when they were awarded a free kick from just outside the penalty area. Smith stepped up and delivered a beautiful strike that curled just outside the left post.

With her two points on Sunday, Velasquez remains in fifth place on the career points list at Indiana, trailing Kim Grodek’s 58 points for fourth place on the list. Her career assist total now stands at 11 to join in a tie for 10^th place on the career list at IU.

Missouri State was able to get on the scoreboard in the 63^rd minute on a goal by Shelby Stewart, her second of the year, and the assist going to Molly Brewer.

For the game, Indiana held the 18-8 advantage in shots and drew four corner kicks to just two for the Bears.

Indiana will be on the road next weekend as they travel to the state of California for a pair of games. On Friday, they will take on UC Santa Barbara at 10:00 p.m. ET and then on Sunday they will play Pepperdine at 4:00 p.m. ET.

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