Defense shutting down opposition

There is a simple adage in sports: If the other team can't score, they can't beat you. This philosophy has been the foundation for the women's soccer team early this season. \nAfter allowing only one goal during a tie at Northwestern and a victory at No. 23 Wisconsin last weekend, the Hoosiers find themselves off to a 4-1-1 start (1-0-1 Big Ten), ranked sixth in the Great Lakes Region by Soccer Buzz and are third in the Big Ten Conference. This season, the team has already equalled their point total in conference play from last year in two games. \nThe reason for this has been a dominant defense that has allowed only three goals all year. \nTwo players responsible for this dominating effort are sophomore goalkeeper Shaunna Daugherty and junior midfielder/back Dana Philp.\nDaughety has permitted the fewest goals of any keeper in the conference and has a 0.5 goals allowed average. She has already passed her victory total from last season and is the anchor of the defense. She said she feels the reason why the team, who went 1-8-1 in conference play, is off to such a good start is experience.\n"Playing all off-season with the starters has made us more experienced as a team," she said. "Working hard and training together got us to get a feel of one another, and that has really helped."\nPhilp has had a strong start to her season as well. She spent the earlier part of her career as more of an offensive player, but this season is more focused on the defensive aspect of her game.\n"I take a lot of pride in a shutout," Philp said. "A shutout often goes unrecognized, but it's nice to keep another team from scoring."\nPhilp also noted many differences from last year's team to this year's. \n"We are a lot more intense this season," she said. "We are defending better as a team, as supposed to just defending individually. It's a team effort."\nCoach Joe Kelley had nothing but positive remarks about the team's defensive effort so far.\n"The girls have taken pride in how they are playing defensively. Philp has been very steady and is leading. It is not only the backs or just Shaunna in goal," he said. "Defense is a team concept and it won\'t work unless everyone works on it. The team has really come together defensively and has done tremendous."\nDaugherty said the defense goes into competition with the mind-set of a shutout. \n"Every time we go out on the field, we don't want to allow any goals. We don't want the other team to even cross the midline. We want no shots on goal. We want no goals against," she said. "I do what I can to make sure we are organized back there. I make sure that the players are in the right places, shifting, seeing if the team is doing a great job of listening to her when she tells them where everybody is, but she and Philp aren't taking all of the credit for their teams success. \n"Playing with Carly (Everett), (Erin) Hesselbach, Stacey (Peterson), we each know each other's strengths and weaknesses and can compensate for one another after a year together."\nThe defense has only permitted 69 shots in six games, and IU's opponents have only converted 4.3 percent of their shots into goals.\nThe defense doesn't show up in the box score as much as the offense, but since IU is only eighth in the conference in scoring, it shows just how important the defensive unit has been to the Hoosiers having the best winning percentage in the Big Ten.\n"Defense isn't about the fancy stuff. It's about results," Philp said.