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Friday, Nov. 29
The Indiana Daily Student

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Men seek revenge for last year's Big Ten tourney loss

Off to their worst start since becoming a varsity program in 1973, IU, (2-3-3, 0-0-1) looks to right the ship when they welcome the Penn State Nittany Lions into Bill Armstrong Stadium for tonight's Big Ten clash.\nTonight's matchup features the two teams predicted to finish 1-2 in the Big Ten this season, with IU atop, but it is Penn State (5-3, 0-0) entering the game ranked as high as No. 15 in the country and with a winning record. An experienced crew, Penn State returns 14 lettermen and seven starters from last season's NCAA Quarterfinal team. \n"I picked Penn State as a team to beat in the conference, they return a lot of strong players and I am expecting this to be a great game," coach Jerry Yeagley said. "Penn State is a tough team with a physical personality. They have good talent all over the field and are very well-coached. It will be a very competitive game."\nA close match would be nothing new to these teams as IU won last year's regular season match in overtime in State College, while Penn State knocked the Hoosiers out of the conference tournament in penalty kicks. \nYeagley's squad owns a dominating 21-6-2 all-time record against the Nittany Lions and are 11-1-0 against them in Bloomington, but IU was also 30-0-0 against the Spartans before Sunday's 1-1 draw.\nThe Hoosiers will battle Penn State tonight as underdogs, a role not too familiar to the coaches and players.\n"IU has never come from this position. It puts us in a good spot because we can come from the underdog spot," junior goalkeeper Jay Nolly said. "The team is working their tails off, it just seems we are not getting the victories that we should be getting, but we have to look past that and look to next game and turn it around."\nNolly has posted two shutouts this year, both IU victories, and owns a 0.91 goals against average. \nHis offense has actually outscored the opponent 10-8 and outshot them 113-83, but in their three loses, IU has managed just one goal.\n"It seems we have had about two seasons worth of breaks going against us," Yeagley said. "Part of it has been that we have not been lucky but part of it has been that we have to make our luck and find a way to win."\nEven though IU snapped its streak of 36 consecutive Big Ten regular season wins last Sunday against the Spartans, the Hoosiers will seek to extend their 40-game Big Ten regular season unbeaten streak and jump back into the national rankings.\n"We are definitely looking at it as a turn-around game. Right now we have dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time since I have been here," senior midfielder Drew Shinabarger. "We are just hoping to catch people off guard thinking the Hoosiers are down a little, but we're not, we are going to turn things around and everything will come together for us this weekend."\n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Cohen at djcohen@indiana.edu.

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