IU looks to defend conference championship

For the ninth time in the 12-year history of the Big Ten Men's Soccer Championships, IU enters the tournament as the top seed having won the regular season Big Ten title with a 6-0 record in conference play. The Hoosiers are the reigning Big Ten Tournament Champions and hold an 18-2 all-time record in tournament play, but just two seasons ago No. 5 seed Ohio State upset the No. 1 seeded Hoosiers in the semifinals.\nIU's top seed gives the Hoosiers a bye in the first round as the other six teams compete to advance to the semifinals. IU (14-2-2) is slated to get started in tournament play 5 p.m. today at University Park, Penn., against No. 4 Penn State after the Nittany Lions beat Wisconsin 1-0 in Thursday's opening round. The last time Penn State hosted the Big Ten Championships was in 1996 and IU defeated Penn State on penalty kicks in the semifinals and Michigan State in the final to win the title.\nIU coach Jerry Yeagley said he believes the Hoosiers got a rough draw despite having the top seed.\n"We got the worst possible draw I feel," Yeagley said. "We could play Penn State on their field, a team that was bitterly disappointed when we beat them on a penalty kick in overtime. I thought they had the better of it and they had a man advantage for much of the game, we did not play well and it is tough to play them at home."\nPrior to knowing the outcome of Thursday's matches, sophomore midfielder Danny O'Rourke said the Hoosiers would be challenged by either the Badgers or the Nittany Lions.\n"If we play Wisconsin, they are a tough team and always have been," O'Rourke said. "Playing Penn State would be even harder because it is at home for them and the style they play is aggressive along with us. I think it will definitely be a hard fought match no matter who we play."\nHeading into this year's tournament, IU owns a 25-5-2 all-time record against Penn State including an 8-1 mark in Big Ten Championship play. In games played at University Park, the Hoosiers and Nittany Lions have split ten games with a record of 4-4-2; however, IU has a 4-0-2 record in the last six contests at Penn State. In the eleven previous Big Ten Championships the Nittany Lions have made the semifinal round each year.\nThe Nittany Lions have won four of their last five games while allowing just two goals over that span. IU downed Penn State 1-0 in double overtime on Sept. 27 at Penn State on sophomore Ned Grabavoy's penalty kick in the 105th minute of play. Sophomore forward Chad Severs leads Penn State (12-7) with 28 points on 13 goals and two assists; Severs trails only Hoosier senior Pat Noonan in Big Ten rankings for scoring in all games.\nIU finished the Big Ten regular season undefeated and No. 7 seed Northwestern completed conference play winless. The other five teams finished Big Ten play with 3-3 records so goal differential in conference games was used to seed the remaining teams. Michigan was awarded the No. 2 seed, Ohio State was given the No. 3 seed and host Penn State was seeded No. 4. Wisconsin received the No. 5 seed, while the No. 6 seed went to Michigan State.\nWith the parity within the conference, senior midfielder Ryan Mack said he thinks the tournament is anyone's to grab.\n"Any day, any team can win," Mack said. "They have all been real even and I think we have to go in there knowing all these teams have up and down games and we definitely need to be at the top of our game."\nThe Hoosiers will be without their scoring leader in conference games, Grabavoy, who is playing with the U.S. Under-20 National Team at a FIFA World Youth Championship Qualifier in South Carolina. Grabavoy had sat out the last two Hoosier games with a high ankle sprain so IU is accustomed to playing without one of their primary playmakers.\nYeagley said he expects freshman Brian Plotkin and others to step up in Grabavoy's absence.\n"Plotkin has been playing better all year," Yeagley said. "He has not had the points, maybe it is his time and he will be our Mr. November. We will use (sophomore Vijay Dias) and Plotkin in that spot and they both could be in there if we move Mack to forward and we likely will at times. We have developed some good depth with some players having been out"