IU shuts out Musketeers

IU got physical and put in a winning performance Thursday night during their game against Xavier. The star of the game was junior forward Shelly Gruszka who scored the game's only two goals. Gruszka first hit the back of the net off an assist from junior defender Carly Everett in the 23rd minute. Less than four minutes later, Gruszka found the ball close to the goal again, this time from a pass from senior forward Jenny Mann. Gruszka put the ball in the hole left open by Xavier's goalkeeper, senior Megan Veith, who transferred from IU. "I was just able to get past a couple of players and went in line and looked up and there was Shelly and she put it away," Mann said. "It felt good, I was pretty pumped about it."

The two scores vaulted Gruszka to second in the Big Ten in points (8) and goals (4) this season. The forward was humble after the game, crediting Everett and Mann for executing their roles within coach Mick Lyon's new system. "My job is to just get in there and get a foot on it. I was just there at the right time," Gruszka said. Lyon has been thoroughly satisfied with Gruszka's performances so far this season. "In and around the box she's very very tough," Lyon said. "She's hard to get off the ball, she's got great vision, she's crafty and she's just one of those players that has the knack of knowing right where the goal is." The Hoosiers controlled possession most of the game while out-shooting the Musketeers 16-7. Lyon said he told the team before the game that changes needed to be made in two important areas. "In the three games we've played we've been out fouled and we've conceded more corners than we've taken, which shows two things: one that we've not been physical enough and the other that we're not attacking the end line," Lyon said. The Hoosiers remedied the problem by forcing 11 corner kicks to Xavier's one and out fouling the Musketeers 15-8. "It was a physical game from the very beginning. Xavier is always pretty physical. So we just went in there and played physical back," Gruszka said. The Hoosier goalkeepers achieved their first shut-out of the season. Junior Shaunna Daugherty has started each game this season and made two saves in the first half. Junior Kristin Pimlott relieved Daugherty for the second half and survived a desperate attack from the Musketeers by getting three saves. Lyon said Pimlott got more playing time because of her hard work ethic in practice. The Hoosiers said they need to build momentum before facing the tough opponents of the Big Ten. The team has one more game before the conference season starts. Lyon said he needs the team to put in a full 90 minutes of disciplined play to be successful in the Big Ten. He said fatigue during the final minutes has made the team revert to playing with bad habits. On an injury note, Mann will play the rest of the season with a bad knee that has plagued her since last year. "I just got my MRI results today and they said that my knee's gotten worse, but they gave the go ahead to finish the season. It's my senior year, I've got two months. So they said that we're just going to play through the pain. I probably shouldn't be playing, but I'm going to."