With first-year head coach Mike Freitag's perfect record now lost after dropping two games over the weekend in double-overtime, he looks to put the Hoosiers back on track as they open up their Big Ten schedule Sunday against unranked Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich.\nThe Hoosiers entered last week winners of their first five contests and ranked No. 1 in the nation. Now 5-2-0, IU sits at No. 10 in the most recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll as it heads into conference play. \n"They make us play these tough games so we are ready when the (NCAA) tournament starts," IU senior midfielder Danny O'Rourke said.\nIU defeated then-ranked No. 17 Notre Dame Sept. 15 to begin what Freitag said would be "hell week" before the week started. However, IU's hell began as its 21-game winning streak came to an end on its trip out west.\nIU faced the University of California Santa Barbara in the first of two matches in the adidas/Crescent Financial Solutions Classic in Albuquerque, N.M., and lost 1-0 in a game where they outplayed UC Santa Barbara. But UCSB back Andy Iro scored on a header in the box in the 105th minute that went off the tips of IU senior goalkeeper Jay Nolly's fingers. An exhausted IU team returned Sunday evening and faced host New Mexico with the game ending eerily similarly.\nO'Rourke was forced to sit out the Hoosiers' match versus New Mexico due to receiving two yellow cards against UCSB, resulting in a red card and his subsequent ejection from the game. New Mexico's Blake Danaher netted the game winner with 13 seconds remaining in the final overtime off a cross from teammate Ben Ashwill.\n"Three ranked teams, in a five-day period -- that's a lot to ask of people," Freitag said. "In saying that, I thought that we could perform well enough to at least come away with two wins and a tie at worst. But that's the way it goes. I thought we definitely dominated Santa Barbara. New Mexico was a good team, but I thought some things caught up with us, and that the lack of officiating in the game on Saturday hurt us, and Sunday with Danny's two yellows -- one was a phantom yellow, I don't know where it came from, and the altitude caught up (with us)."\nMichigan State is also coming off a West Coast swing as the Spartans defeated San Diego State University 2-0 with two goals from senior midfielder John Minagawa-Webster. The Spartans then suffered their first loss of the season when San Diego defeated MSU 2-0.\nCoincidentally, Minagawa-Webster scored first in last year's match against IU in Bloomington, which ended in a 1-1 tie, as he scored in the 26th minute. IU sophomore forward Jacob Peterson scored the equalizer in the 82nd minute.\n"I thought Michigan State was probably the team that maybe played us the toughest last year of any opponent, and that's talking St. John's in the (College Cup) Final," Freitag said. "I thought it was a game we probably should have lost last year, and we were fortunate to tie it up on our home field. They took it to us."\nComing into last season's match at Bill Armstrong Stadium, IU had won the previous 30 meetings with the Spartans, a mark dating back to 1965. The tie for the Hoosiers was the first time IU failed to win a regular season Big Ten contest, spanning 36 victories, since 1996.\n"It was a little tough last year, knowing that we should have won that game and tying them," Nolly said. "We beat them the last 30 times, so I think the guys that were there last year and pretty much everybody, we're going to be going into Michigan State fired up and ready to pounce on someone after loosing two straight games."\nThe last time Nolly sat out a contest was Oct. 11, 2002, when then-head coach Jerry Yeagley removed Nolly for then-backup goalkeeper Matt Reiswerg, with IU up 5-1 over Wisconsin and 15:30 remaining to play. Nolly's time streak in the net totals 3,929 minutes and 55 seconds, which spans 41 games, including all regular season, Big Ten and NCAA tournament games.\nO'Rourke looks forward to playing again this weekend after sitting out Sunday's match and build on his two goals scored already this season. He enters the weekend with two goals on three shots on goal, as O'Rourke had zero career goals coming into the 2004 season.\n"Coming out here and having a week to train before hand gives us an ability to be fresh (against) Michigan State," O'Rourke said. "Being the first Big Ten game, at a tough opponent, it's going to be a challenge. But if we can a win up there, then it'll get the ball rolling for teams like Penn State and Michigan and all those teams we have to play down the road."\n-- Contact staff writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu .
No longer unblemished, champs open Big Ten play
After 2 straight losses, No. 10 Hoosiers travel for matchup with Mich. St.
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