Soccer to end season on road

This weekend is supposed to be an uneventful one for the men's soccer team. Coach Jerry Yeagley traditionally gives the team a week off before the Big Ten Tournament so it can rest -- both physically and mentally.\nBut this year will be different.\nTomorrow, the Hoosiers play Stanford in the Cal-Berkeley Classic. IU (13-3) finishes the regular season Sunday against the host Bears.\nSo instead of having a weekend off before the postseason begins, IU has one of its toughest weekends of the season.\nNot only do the Hoosiers play two games in two days -- something they haven't done since opening the season 0-2 at home -- but they have to play one of the nation's top teams in Stanford.\nThe Cardinals and the Hoosiers are ranked in the top five in every major college soccer poll. Stanford holds first place in the Soccer America poll, while IU is No. 1 in the internetsoccer.com media poll.\nMore important, IU is first and Stanford is second in collegiate soccer's power ratings. Yeagley said the ratings are perhaps the most important factor in determining seeds for the NCAA tournament.\nThe top eight seeds in the tournament usually play the first two rounds of the tournament at home, while the top four get homefield advantage for three rounds.\nThe Hoosiers know that means their final regular season games are crucial to the postseason.\n"It's a real important weekend," sophomore midfielder Pat Noonan said. "It's going to tell where we head into Big Tens and trying to get that homefield advantage. We win both these games, and it gives us a great shot at being home the rest of the playoffs."\nWinning the Stanford game would mean beating what many coaches consider the best team in the nation. Yeagley said coaches on the West Coast regard Stanford as the team to beat, and he said he doesn't disagree.\nThe Cardinals start eight seniors and have one of the nation's premiere players in Ryan Nelsen, a senior from New Zealand -- and captain of the New Zealand national team.\nStanford also boasts senior Adam Zapala at goalkeeper. Zapala has allowed four goals in 16 games; his 0.26 goals against average is third best in the nation.\nPlaying a tough team on the road late in the season is nothing new to the Hoosiers, who lost to James Madison at a neutral site late last season and lost at UCLA to finish the regular season the year before.\n"(It's like) a wake-up call, what have you, a late season attitude adjustment to get everybody right," Yeagley said. "I'm not saying a loss is a good thing, but I am saying a good, hard test prior to tournament, I think is important. And that's why we scheduled them.\n"Traveling to another region in the country, going cross country, playing a team in their backyard is tough. But it's a good challenge, it's a good test, and it's what we want at this time."\nIt might also be what the Hoosiers need to get into the right mindset.\n"It's really big because if we beat Stanford, I think it proves that we can beat the top couple teams in the nation," junior forward Ryan Mack said. "I think that'll give us a lot of confidence for the NCAA tournament.\n"We'll be ready"