Hoosiers to face old enemy and new foe

This weekend the men's soccer team faces two opponents with two distinctly different backgrounds.\nIn the blue corner, the Butler Bulldogs. A team that IU has grown to strongly dislike (hate is a strong word, people) through the years, despite our dominance over them.\nAnd, in the maize and blue corner, the Michigan Wolverines. Barely a newborn in the college soccer world, the Hoosiers will face a team from the U of M for the first time in 26 years when they host the Wolverines on Sunday. With every team there's always some interesting facts to bring up, maybe some history that should be shared. And these two teams have a little of both.\nLet's start with tonight's foe, Butler. If you take a look at the numbers, one would wonder why we even consider this a rivalry at all. Since the teams' first meeting in 1991, the Hoosiers are 10-1 against the Bulldogs, and have outscored them 35-6. Why the animosity, then? Well, these three reasons should be plenty of ammo:\n1. In-state rivalry. Since Purdue doesn't have a soccer team, we have to find someone else to hate! With Evansville not on the schedule this year and Notre Dame off our slate since '98, Butler is the only Indiana school, besides IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis, on the schedule. Although it's no IU-Purdue basketball, it's all we've got, at least this season.\n2. Nov. 19, 1995. It is a date that will live in infamy, at least for IU soccer fans. It is the date that Butler got its lone win against IU -- in Bloomington -- in the NCAA tournament. So they knocked us out of the tournament one year, big deal! Well, actually it is, because of ...\n3. Their fans. Now I've seen IU and Butler play thrice here in Bloomington -- in '97, '98 and '99, and every time there has been a good-sized Butler contingency that has made the journey down State Road 37 to watch the game. And every time, without fail, their fans have been the most obnoxious people I've come across at a sporting event.\nIf Butler gets called for a foul, the referees aren't "letting them play." If a Hoosier defender so much as looks at a Bulldog player wrong, not only should the ref call the foul, but the Hoosier should be drenched in a downpour of yellow and red cards. And then they always have to bring up that one time they beat us.\nA Bulldog soccer fan is kind of like that guy who answers every question (incorrectly, of course) in your discussion class. You want to laugh out loud at him and tell him to shut up, but then you realize you're actually glad he's there because he makes the class so much more interesting. I can only imagine what it will be like with about a thousand of those guys in Kuntz Stadium tonight. I'm buying some Excedrin, just in case.\nNow let's take a closer look at Michigan. After trying to gain varsity status for nearly 50 years, the Wolverines Soccer Club has finally joined the big-time, becoming the seventh men's program in the Big Ten. And for newcomers, these guys aren't bad. The Wolverines won the national championship at the club level in '97 and '98, meaning many of the members of this team have played big games against some decent competition. \nTwo weeks ago, they took then-No. 2 Penn State to overtime in their first ever Big Ten match. How will they react to their first road conference game, against the two-time defending national champions nonetheless? Well, that remains to be seen, but with IU looking for yet another undefeated Big Ten season, you can expect the Hoosiers to make it an unpleasant experience for the Wolverines.\nTwo cities. Two teams with two very different backgrounds. And two entirely separate reasons to want to knock the crap out of them. Just another typical weekend for Indiana soccer.