Road gets tougher for Hoosiers

The IU women's soccer team is on a Big Ten road trip again this weekend in what will be one of its toughest weekends of competition so far this season.\nThe Hoosiers (6-0, 2-1) travel east to take on No. 5 Penn State tonight and No. 29 Ohio State Sunday.\n"We've had a laid back week, so we can just come in strong so we're physically ready to play because it's going to be a rough weekend for us against Penn State and Ohio State," said senior co-captain Kim Grodek. "They're just two tough teams, so it would be great to come out with two wins."\nThe coaches may have made the past week's physical training easier so the team is well rested for this weekend's two matches, but getting their players mentally prepared has also been a top priority. \nPlaying against ranked conference foes on the road can be intimidating, but the coaches said the Hoosiers just need to focus on playing their own style of soccer and see what happens.\n"We just need to play our game and come out and do what we can," IU coach Ian Rickerby said. "We've got some good players on this team, and I think we just need to realize that we can go out and compete with anybody."\nThe solid and consistent Hoosier defense has been a key factor to the team's overall success. The backline will face some tough challenges, especially from the Penn State offense, but the IU defenders say they are ready. \n"I know Penn State has a lot of big, strong forwards who have been recognized a lot recently, but we have a pretty solid backline," sophomore defender Lauren Lamping said. "I think we're all pretty quick and fast so I think we can challenge their forwards."\nThe Hoosiers are 1-11 against the Nittany Lions who are 5-1-1 this season, with their only win coming in the 1996 Big Ten tournament. \nIU has seen much better success against the Buckeyes, posting a 9-3-1 record, including a 3-1 recording at Columbus, Ohio, and winning the past four games in the series.\nRegardless of the statistics, series records and national rankings, Rickerby said the team will give both opponents a run for their money.\n"We thoroughly intend to go out there and give both teams a hard 90 minutes plus and just really see if we can't come out of there with a couple of results," Rickerby said. \n-- Contact staff writer John Fischer at jbfische@indiana.edu.