Hoosiers face must-win game

There's no ground left to give for the women's soccer team this weekend.\nAfter meandering in the middle of the pack for the first three weekends of Big Ten play, the Hoosiers watched the middle move forward, leaving them behind in the dust.\nNow the team is left with a fight to squeeze into the Big Ten playoffs.\n"We keep saying we have to win, but now we really have to win," freshman midfielder Emily Hotz said. "There's nothing more to it. We have to win every game."\nThat means the Hoosiers need three wins on the road against Iowa, Illinois and Purdue. The math is simple -- if IU wins all three games, it is assured of a spot in the Big Ten tournament field Nov. 3-5 at the University of Illinois.\nBut other than that situation, the picture is fuzzy for the 1-5-1 Hoosiers, who are in ninth place, one position out of the tournament field.\nIU plays the No. 8 team this weekend as Indiana travels to Iowa City to play the Hawkeyes. Iowa enters with a 2-5 record, one more than IU. Although a loss to Iowa won't mathematically eliminate the Hoosiers from playoff contention, it would make the path a lot tougher.\n"Every day is a new chance to compete," coach Joe Kelley said. "We've been better than the teams we're playing, we're not getting a just result. But every day is a chance to get better, and that's how you keep your focus when things are frustrating.\n"Despite what's happened to us, our confidence is at an all-time high right now."\nA loss against the Hawkeyes puts IU four points back with two games left. Both teams finish their seasons with Purdue and Illinois. A win earns the team three points while a tie produces two points.\nIf IU loses Friday, it would need to earn five points against Purdue and Illinois while Iowa would have to lose both those games. The Hoosiers in that scenario would need a win and a tie along with two Iowa losses to make the tournament.\nIf IU wins Friday afternoon, the path could possibly lead as high as sixth in the tournament. If IU were to run the table and win its remaining games, as Hotz insists it will, the team would end the season with 14 points.\nFreshman forward Shelly Gruszka understands the position the Hoosiers are in. \n"This is it," Gruszka said. "We need to win every game."\nFour Big Ten teams are tied in fourth place with 12 points (Michigan, Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota). Three of those teams could lose the remainder of their games and finish below IU in the standings. Illinois plays Purdue Friday. That would vault one of those teams to 15 points.\nThis best-case scenario puts the team as the fifth seed in the tournament. But those four teams play games against Big Ten teams with losing records.\n Kelley said he thinks his team can do some damage if it makes a move that'll put them in the tournament. \n "We can still do lots of things," Kelley said. "But before we think about that, we need to take care of business on the field against Iowa and Illinois. Wisconsin doesn't want to play us. Minnesota doesn't want to play again, either. And for that matter neither does Northwestern or Michigan. At this point, Penn State doesn't even scare us."\n"We're very good and those teams know that. They don't want to play us"