IU's Kate Barber Going Out With A Bang And A Bunch Of Goals
Jonas Blue’s version of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” gets frequent playing time at the IU Field Hockey Complex these days courtesy of senior midfielder Kate Barber.
The song is Barber’s goal-scoring music. Whenever she finds the back of the cage, Blue’s version of the song fills the air while Barber and her teammates celebrate putting up another number on the board.
It’s become a common scene in 2016. Through eight games, Barber leads the nation in both total goals (12) and goals per game (1.50). She also ranks No. 2 in the country and the Big Ten in points per game (3.38), trailing only Michigan State’s Kendal Anderson (3.57).
“Kate is having one of those years that every Division I player dreams about,” head coach Amanda Janney said.
Barber’s emergence as one of the most dynamic scorers in the country, to her own admittance, came as a surprise. After all, she registered eight goals and seven assists through 19 games as a junior.
“It wasn’t expected,” she said. “It’s just really exciting, to be honest.”
But she'll take it.
Janney said Barber is at her best when things aren’t going well on the turf. Just when Janney is becoming frustrated with the way a drill or scrimmage is going, Barber is there to break the Hoosiers out of a slump.
“When things aren’t going that smooth at practice, she’ll be the one to make some dynamic plays or make a big more or make a one-v-one play that changes the drill that changes the tempo at practice,” Janney said. “Individually, she’s able to raise our team’s game up.”
Barber’s ability to get the most out of her teammates is part of the reason why she was voted a team captain by her peers. A four-year starter, the St. Louis native said the honor hit home knowing her teammates respected her work.
“I think being a senior as well and kind of going out with a bang is kind of my last-ditch effort,” she said. “I want to leave an impact on the team and have other girls step up so they can be there when I’m gone.”
The secret to Barber’s scoring prowess? She claimed there isn’t one.
She said she’s well aware that she leads the country in goals but isn’t making anything of it. She brushed it off saying that she was simply in the right place at the right time more often than not and that she takes advantage of being the main striker off penalty corners.
Fifth-year senior and fellow captain Mollie Getzfread offered a more concrete reason.
“She’s got this ability to react in different circumstances,” Getzfread said. “If I give her a bad ball, she can still pick it up and make something out of it. She’s the kind of player that whatever happens, she’s going to make something happen.”
Like goals, assists, defensive stops—Janney said she sees Barber doing it all.
The truth of it is Barber can’t stand losing. She said she doesn’t want to leave Bloomington without a Big Ten championship, and Janney can tell based on the way she refuses to back down.
It's a scrappiness that Janney said makes Barber better off.
“She holds her teammates to really good standards,” Janney said. “That’s where she’s been a fantastic leader and captain for us. She demands and expects so much from herself, but she also has very high standards for her teammates that she won’t allow them to play slower, to play down.”
Barber knows her time is running out. There’s only so many opportunities to make “Fast Car” blare through the sound system before she has to say goodbye to a game and a school she calls her second home.
She’ll leave Bloomington with a degree in community health and minors in psychology and gloal health. She hopes this time next year to be in nursing school.
But first there are games to win and goals to score.
After all, Barber didn’t become the nation’s most dynamic scorer just to stop halfway through the season.
“I think that the fact that she’s being recognized as one of the top scorers in the nation is great for the program,” Janney said. “She represents Indiana so well.”