IU claims regular season Big Ten title

The last time IU played at Ohio State, the Buckeyes prematurely ended the Hoosiers' pursuit of a Big Ten Tournament Championship. This time, IU erased the bitter taste of defeat, and earned the number one seed in this year's conference tournament with a 4-2 victory.\nIU (12-1-2, 6-0 in Big Ten) downed Ohio State (9-5-0, 2-2 in Big Ten) to earn its seventh straight undefeated conference season. The Hoosiers have won five Big Ten Championships in the past six years.\nOhio State thwarted IU's pursuit of a conference title in 2000 when they beat the Hoosiers 1-0, their lone win in 29 matches against IU. That game marked IU's last loss to a conference opponent.\n"Last time we were here, we lost, and those of us that were here were still disappointed with the loss," coach Jerry Yeagley said. "We came out with a strong focus today. I could tell there was a seriousness about this game, and they knew the task at hand."\nThe win increases IU's regular season win streak in the Big Ten to 36 games.\nEntering the game, IU's goalkeeper, sophomore Jay Nolly, and Ohio State's goalkeeper, sophomore Chad Brown, had almost identical goals against averages. But it was Brown who could not handle the opposition in the first half.\nIU put the pressure on from the very beginning. Sophomore Ned Grabavoy stole Ohio State's opening kickoff and senior Pat Noonan rifled a shot off the crossbar just 10 seconds into the game.\nSixteen minutes into the game, Grabavoy finally put IU on the board for his 19th point on the season. Grabavoy leads the conference with 15 points.\nSenior Ryan Mack followed up with a majestic diving header in the middle of the box off Noonan's cross.\nOn a few occasions, Ohio State found holes in IU's defense, which was without sophomore Danny O'Rourke, but the Buckeyes could not capitalize in the first half. That quickly changed in the second stanza.\nSophomore Peters Withers squeaked a goal past Nolly two minutes into the second half, cutting the deficit to 2-1.\n"Luckily we're deep in that position," senior John Swann said. "With Jordan and Shinny, they both provide different strengths. Danny is hard to replace, but the two of them just need to give it all they've got for 30 minutes at a time, and we'll be alright."\nBut the goal fueled IU's fire.\nSwann headed in IU's third goal off freshman Brian Plotkin's second corner kick assist in as many games. The goal broke the Buckeyes' 23-game streak of allowing no more than two goals in a game.\n"We've been working on corners all year," Swann said. "Earlier in the year, we were a couple seconds off because most of the time it's been my fault misjudging it. We've got our timing down now, and the goals will come because (Plotkin) puts the perfect ball in."\nThe Hoosiers were not done. Noonan added a goal to help his bid for a third Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week award this season. Noonan had three goals and assist in IU's two games. \nOhio State sophomore Sammy Tamporello added another goal for the Buckeyes with 30 seconds left in the game, but IU's offense was just too much.\n"Ten seconds into the game we should have put one away, but things didn't go our way," Noonan said. "We created a lot of good opportunities, and had a lot of good movement away from the ball. Ned got an early goal, and we just moved on from there"