It has been a season of question marks all over the place for the IU Soccer team. Are you ready to find out what this squad is really made of?
The Hoosiers have a chance to show the conference what kind of team they really are as they kick off the Big Ten Tournament against the 6 seed Ohio State buckeyes. IU is on a quest for their 12th Big Ten Tournament title in the opening kick is at 2:00 p.m. ET Thursday.
While the Hoosiers are happy to be playing in the early time slot, early games have been a problem for the Hoosiers. The team has scored only nine first half goals this entire season, five of which were scored in just one game.
Indiana will have to change their opening strategy if they want to advance deep into the Big Ten Tournament.
Speaking of scoring, the Hoosiers will have to rely on their two top scorers in Andy Adlard and Will Bruin, each of whom has five goals on the season. Kevin Noschang is creeping behind them with 4 goals on the season. The top dogs will have to perform in order for the Hoosiers to steal a title.
This is a Hoosier team that has prevailed in Big Ten Tournaments 11 times to bring home a trophy. Can they do it again? The odds are with them for this round at least as they have already beaten Ohio State once this year by a score of 3-2 in overtime. Goalkeeper Chay Cain saved a season high seven shots on goal in the two teams' last match up.
The Hoosiers bring a 10-5-3 record to Madison against a Buckeye team with a mark of 9-7-2. The Hoosiers slightly edge out the Buckeyes in that respect. Look for an aggressive first half defensively from the Hoosiers. This is because sound defense in the first half and high scoring in the second half have carried the Hoosiers through this 2008 season so far. There is no point in changing the strategy now.
This is essentially a rematch of last year's Big Ten Tournament title match. The game was tied through regulation, 0-0. The Buckeyes outscored the Hoosiers 5-4 in an overtime shootout to take home the Big Ten title.
The Hoosiers have one major statistic on their side. The last time the Big Ten Tournament was held in Madison, IU defeated Michigan 2-0 in the final game to take home the 2001 Big Ten title.
Let's hope that history can repeat itself as the Hoosiers look to make a run at number 12 and ultimately, their eighth National Championship.
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