Soccer team expects tough match

The men's soccer team earned itself a No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament Sunday when it beat Northwestern in its final home game.\nNext order of business: ensuring more home games come NCAA tournament time.\nTo do that, IU must win its remaining games and hope for a high NCAA seed. The Hoosiers play four more regular season games before the Big Ten tournament, the first of which is tonight against Kentucky.\n"Face it, last time we played Kentucky, it was on our field, and we had to go to overtime to beat them in the NCAA Tournament," coach Jerry Yeagley said. "I know they feel they have a stronger team this year. Right now, they're playing their best. They have a 7-5 record, but they lost some games early when they were not full strength... I think it will be a difficult game."\nYeagley predicts difficulty for several reasons.\n • IU plays Kentucky, a nonconference opponent, on a Wednesday night. The Hoosiers struggled in their two previous mid-week games this season, beating both IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis and Louisville 2-0. In both matches, the Hoosiers needed late goals to win.\n • The Wildcats play a physical game. They employ a high pressure defense and put plenty of balls in the air in the penalty area. Such an attack should test IU's defense and junior goalkeeper Colin Rogers.\n"They serve balls up, fight for the knockdown," Yeagley said. "This is a game that (former IU goalkeeper) Doug Warren lost his starting spot in the rotation to (senior goalkeeper) T.J. (Hannig), because he hadn't faced that kind of pressure. And it will be interesting to see how Colin handles that kind of pressure."\nHannig, who injured his knee three weeks ago, had planned on returning for the Kentucky game. But trainers said Hannig would return after five to six weeks.\nThe Hoosiers are taking the trainers' advice. Yeagley said Hannig will rest two more weeks and should return for the Cal-Berkeley Classic Nov. 4-5.\nRogers, who has started and won five consecutive games, hasn't been challenged in several of his starts, and he has gotten more confident.\n"I'm feeling more and more comfortable with every game," he said. "I'm getting exposed to different situations and different experiences in the game.\n"The last couple games we've played, teams have given us a little room in the back. But if (the Wildcats) do come out and high pressure us, it'll be a test for us."\nAnother test will be whether IU starts the game ready to play.\n"I think we'll just have to make sure we're sharp, unlike the Northwestern game, where we came out a little sluggish," junior sweeper Josh Rife said. "We're going to have to be sharp on everything"