Games to seed tourney

The Hoosiers take back to the road this weekend for their final two contests of the regular season. IU faces Northwestern today and Colgate (at Northwestern) on Saturday. \nTheir two game stint at Northwestern comes on the heels of a .500 home-stand, in which the Hoosiers posted a 2-2 record. \nCoach Amy Robertson was satisfied with her squad's efforts but is still waiting for them to take the next step.\n"I was happy with our play because we are finding results under adversity and the force of a tough competitor," Robertson said. "But our progress was rather lateral. We haven't gone forward from how we played against Ohio State and Michigan and I think that is the next step in finding the right formula."\nThe Hoosiers will keep searching for that formula with some added incentive this weekend. The last two games will determine the bottom-dweller of the Big Ten, which, in turn, will determine the seeding for the Big Ten Tournament that begins next weekend in Columbus, Ohio. \nNeedless to say, these games are big and the Hoosiers know it.\n"This weekend is huge!" Robertson said. "The importance that is going to be placed on these last games is immense and we need to step it up."\nThe Hoosiers will need to utilize their team speed against the physical Wildcats. Speedsters Nikki Orciuch and Jaime O'Pray will see time on the attack. \n"Northwestern tends to be a physical team so we are not looking to take them on or go through them," Robertson said. "We need to move the ball and involve as many people in our attack as possible and utilize the space on the field."\nThe Wildcats are 4-12 and sit in last place in the Big Ten, and the Hoosiers are ready to grasp their second conference victory of the season. \n"Northwestern is a beatable team," Big Ten saves leader Molly Pulkrabek said. "We just need to keep our team unity on the field and play like this is the only thing we want in the world for those 70 minutes."\nThe Hoosiers' match-up against Colgate also proves to be important, especially if they drop their game against Northwestern. If IU loses to Northwestern then the tiebreaker in determining the seeds for the two teams is their overall records. \nColgate stands at 6-9, having won their last contest over Rider University, 3-1. \nFreshman forward Morgan Albini said she knows her team needs to step it up this weekend.\n"We need to try and get off the plateau we have been on and live up to our potential," Albini said. "We need to play the best games we possibly can and have fun doing it"