Hoosiers seek to avenge earlier loss to Creighton

John Swann has proven himself this season.\nThe sophomore marking back has repeatedly marked the opponent's most dangerous attacker, and, for the most part, he's been successful in shutting his man down.\nSwann didn't let UCLA's McKinley Tennyson Jr. or Portland's Olympian Conor Casey do much against the Hoosiers. And just this past weekend, he kept North Carolina's Chris Carrieri, the nation's leading scorer, from scoring a goal.\nSwann, in fact, said marking a team's top attacker is no different than marking junior Ryan Mack or sophomore Pat Noonan in practice.\nSo this weekend should be no sweat for Swann.\nHe'll mark Brain Mullan, who leads Creighton with 17 goals and 12 assists, in IU's final four game against the Bluejays. Nothing Swann can't handle, right?\nSort of.\nWhile Swann has shown he's capable of tackling most any marking assignment he receives, he and freshman marking back David Prall \n did fail to stop one team this \n season.\nThat team was Creighton, and the Bluejays waltzed their way around and through IU's defense in a 4-1 victory Sept. 15.\nMullan scored two goals in the game, while Mike Tranchilla, Creighton's second-leading scorer with 18 goals and eight assists, assisted on both of Mullan's goals and scored one of his own.\nThe two proved to be the only duo IU's faced this season that Swann and Prall haven't stopped.\nNeither Swann nor Prall has forgotten the loss, either.\n"It's another incentive for me," said Swann, who marked Tranchilla in the game. "He's the one I feel like lit me up this year. That was the worst loss in, I think they said, 28 years here."\nThe loss didn't break any 28-year old records, but it tied some.\nThe three-goal differential tied the worst IU's ever had in a loss. As for the four-goal total, it also tied IU's worst defensive effort ever. It marked the first time since 1989 and fifth time ever the Hoosiers allowed four in one game.\nSwann, Prall and the rest of the Hoosiers get a chance for redemption this weekend in Charlotte, N.C., and they might change some things to stop the Bluejays.\nSwann will mark Mullan, and either Prall or senior midfielder Justin Tauber will mark Tranchilla. Assistant coach Caleb Porter said Tauber might take Tranchilla because Tauber is one of IU's best one-on-one defenders.\nThat would leave Prall to mark Keith Sawarynski, Creighton's third forward and third-leading scorer, but the Hoosiers have yet to make a definite decision on who will mark who.\n"It's more of a move the way the players fit each other," Porter said. "I think Tauber matches up well with Tranchilla because he's hard to beat one v. one. And that's (Tranchilla's) strength, whereas the other guy is kind of a battler, hard worker and kind of fits Prall's game a little better."\nSwann and Prall agreed that Tranchilla's one-on-one abilities and Mullan's deceptiveness distinguish them from other attackers Swann and Prall have marked this season. And those differences could play to IU's advantage. \n"With Mullan and Tranchilla, their strength is the ball at their feet," Swann said. "They try to cut you up. Against the speedsters, you've got to lay off them and give them space.\n"But with Mullan and Tranchilla, you've got to be up tight with them. That's our game right there, to get up in their jersey."\nEven if IU's marking backs come prepared to stop Creighton's attackers, they'll likely have a tough time doing so.\nEither Mullan or Tranchilla has had a hand in every NCAA tournament goal Creighton has scored. And the two forwards don't need many opportunities to get the ball in the net. Both Mullan and Tranchilla have scored on more than 40 percent of their shots.\nThat ability to score goals while not taking many shots is what put IU out of the game in September, when Creighton needed only seven shots to get its four goals. But in that game, Swann said, the Hoosiers didn't play their best. And Swann thinks this game will be different.\n"We didn't really give them 100 percent pressure (in the first game)," Swann said. "We've just got to make sure that they know that we're going to be in their jerseys the whole game. And I think that's going to get to them"