Destination: Post-season

The IU women's soccer team went to Iowa and Illinois this weekend looking for two wins and to solidify their place in the Big Ten tournament. They can look at the weekend as the "glass being half full."\nThe Hoosiers, who defeated Iowa 3-1 Friday night and lost 2-1 to Illinois yesterday, currently are 8-5-2 (4-3-2) and in fifth place in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers split this weekend, but with their win Friday, they qualified for a spot in the Big Ten post-season tournament, which has been one of the team's main goals this season. This will be IU's first trip to the Big Ten tournament since 1998.\nJunior forward Shelley Gruszka, who netted the Hoosiers lone tally against Illinois, said she was happy the Hoosiers were able to recognize their goal of reaching the post-season.\n"It was disappointing to only manage a split this weekend," Gruszka said. "That one win on Friday though helps us get into the Big Ten tournament, and that was important."\nThe Hoosiers went on the road hoping to beat two teams ranked below them in the standings and got off to a good start with an impressive and dominating performance in Iowa City. Just ten minutes into the game, freshman midfielder Kristen Zmijewski beat Big Ten Defensive player of the week, sophomore Hawkeye keeper Britta Vogele, to give the Hoosiers a 1-0 lead. The goal was Zmijewski's fourth of the season.\nAfter giving up an equalizer early in the second half, the Hoosiers showed resiliency and battled back with two late goals in the second half. Senior midfielder Kara Bryan gave the Hoosiers a 2-1 lead in the 60th minute, and in the 87th minute, IU got an insurance goal when senior forward Jenny Mann registered her first goal of the season.\nCoach Mick Lyon said he was pleased with how the Hoosiers battled back against Iowa.\n"It was a great team performance, and it was definitely a team effort," Lyon said in a statement. "In the first half, we played well, but we weren't playing our best soccer. The way we came through the game is that we would find a way to win games, and that's what we did today. We turned free kicks into goals, turned breakaways into goals."\nThe win was extremely rewarding for a senior class that has never been to the post-season, and has never beaten Iowa.\nThe Hoosiers came out against Illinois and quickly took a 1-0 lead as Gruszka tallied her team leading fifth goal of the season, coming on an assist from Mann. After that goal though, Illinois rallied back with two goals for a 2-1 victory.\n"We should have beat Illinois," Mann said. "We were up 1-0, and they got two fluky goals. I'm happy to have beaten Iowa, but we should have had two wins this weekend."\nMann said she knows that the season is still not over, even though IU reached its goal of qualifying for the post-season.\n"We will now be fired up for our next game at Purdue," Mann said. "We will have to start all over next week."\nGruszka called yesterday's game a huge disappointment, after the tough win Friday. \n"It's a huge let-down to have played great Friday, and then play slow on Sunday," Gruszka said. "We just couldn't keep up with Illinois"