IU's 50-game Big Ten unbeaten streak snapped by

The Hoosiers made history Friday night at Bill Armstrong Stadium by reaching 50 straight Big Ten conference regular season games without a loss.\nBut by Sunday afternoon the streak was just that -- history.\nIU fell to Northwestern (8-3-2, 1-1-1) 1-0, breaking a 50-game Big Ten unbeaten streak, 30-game home unbeaten streak and a 20-0 all-time record against the Wildcats.\n"What bothers me is losing," IU coach Mike Freitag said. "Whether it's a streak or not ... It had to happen sooner or later, maybe this is the right time for it to happen so we can get refocused and go on with the season."\nThe No. 3 ranked Hoosiers defeated Wisconsin Friday 1-0 on a goal by sophomore midfielder John Michael Hayden in the sixth minute with the assist going to junior forward Mike Ambersley. Hayden and Ambersley led the offense for IU combining for 10 shots and six of the team's seven shots on goal. \n"(Ambersley) is the type of player that when it starts getting cooler he gets hot," Freitag said. "John Michael is just coming into his own. He's going to be one of the premier players in this league for a couple more years."\nThe Hoosiers entered the Northwestern match having not lost a regular season conference game since 1995. But the joyride would soon end against a Wildcat team described as "not your father's Northwestern team," by Wildcat coach Tim Lenahan.\n"We're playing Indiana!" he said. "They're just playing another game. It's very difficult for Indiana to come out for 50 straight games with a bulls eye on their back."\nJust like the match Friday evening, the lone goal came in the sixth minute when Northwestern sent a long ball into the IU box. Northwestern midfielder Kevin Earnest lunged for the ball, redirecting it right in front of IU senior goalkeeper Jay Nolly. Before Nolly could even react, a streaking Wildcat forward, Brad North, put the ball into the net right under Nolly's arm.\n"That goal was probably the best thing that happened in the game, for them and for us," Freitag said. "It woke us up a bit, we could have very easily gone and led a worse game than what happened."\nIU had two golden opportunities to even the score, one coming in each half. In the 10th minute, Ambersley got a shot off from 18 yards out that got over the goalkeeper's reach, struck the crossbar and rolled harmlessly out of bounds.\nWith just five minutes left in the game, the soccer gods struck again pushing a free kick from junior midfielder Brian Plotkin off the upper left corner of the crossbar. Between the two shots, IU was inches away from pushing the streak to 51 games.\n"I thought after those opportunities we picked it up a little bit." Plotkin said. "The energy level seemed like it rose, but we weren't able to use that energy and find the goal."\nOne week after winning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors, Nolly put together two more quality games, totaling seven saves on the weekend including a crucial blocked penalty kick against Wisconsin. \n"I figured I had him read on that side," Nolly said. "I went and the ball was there."\nIU (9-3-1, 4-1) will look to start anew with many of its broken streaks starting Wednesday when they head to Indianapolis to face Butler. The Hoosiers finish the Big Ten schedule next weekend at Ohio State with a first round bye in the Big Ten tournament on the line. \nDepending on next week's games there is still a chance for IU to seek revenge hosting Northwestern in the Big Ten tournament.\n"God help us if we have to meet them again," Lenahan said.\n-- Contact staff writer Brian \nJanosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.