Season Finale

The men\'s soccer team closes out its 2001 regular season Sunday, hosting the IUPUI Jaguars at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The game begins at 2 p.m.\nIU (11-3-1) continues to climb in the rankings, as the Oct. 29 National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll has the Hoosiers at the No. 4 position. IUPUI (7-6-2) is not ranked.\nIU plays the role of the favorite once again, but coach Jerry Yeagley sees IUPUI as a dangerous underdog. \n"Our match-up with IUPUI will not be an easy one," Yeagley said. "(IUPUI) will come ready to pack it in. We will have to be patient and we will have to look deeper on the field as well as out wide. They are very physical and are a better team than they were last year. They\'ll come out ready and strong." \n IUPUI returns five starters and 16 letter winners from a team that finished 11-9-2, finishing third in its conference. Although the two teams are not strangers to each other in spring and preseason play, this marks only the second official career meeting between the two schools. IU won in the first meeting 2-0 last season. Head coach Steve Franklin, a former assistant at IU, is at the helm and has drawn high praise from Yeagley.\n"I respect (Franklin) very much," Yeagley said of his former assistant. "He knows our program inside and out."\nOffensively, IUPUI is led by senior Ben Higginbotham, who has tallied four goals and six assists this season. Defensively IUPUI fields one of the top goalkeepers in the nation, senior Armando Ferria.\n"(Ferria) is a very good keeper and (Franklin) always knows how to play us," junior Pat Noonan said. "Every time we play them they come out fighting. Last year it took us till the 82nd minute to get the goal. If we take them lightly they will bite us."\n Yeagley said the key to finishing the season strong is defense. \n "In comparison to our finish last season, we are much more consistent defensively," Yeagley said. "There was a time earlier this season when the flood gates opened and we were scoring three to four goals a game. Over the last four games we have only scored three goals but we\'ve only given up two. In the long run, defense is the thread."\nThe IU offense usually flows through Noonan, who was recently named one of 15 candidates for the Missouri Athletic Club Soccer Player of the Year award. The M.A.C. award is the official NSCAA/adidas award for top Division I players. The winner will be determined by the voting of Division I coaches, and will be announced in early December.\nAfter seven games at Armstrong Stadium this season, the Hoosier\'s have averaged 2,469 fans per game. The season attendance record is 2,166 fans per game, which was set in 1999. In the likely event more than 46 fans show up Sunday, the Hoosiers will break the 1999 record and set the new single-season average attendance record.\n"The fans are such a big part of our success," senior goalkeeper Colin Rogers said. "At home with the big crowds supporting us, it really gives us a big lift. It\'s a great honor for our team to have so many fans come out and support us"