Women's team faces Illinois, N'Western on road

The wins become more and more crucial for the IU women's soccer team as the Big Ten season draws closer to an end.\nThe Hoosiers (8-4-1, 3-3-1) travel to Northwestern today and then to Illinois Sunday for two of their last four conference games, all of which are on the road.\n"It's going to be a difficult weekend," senior co-captain Kim Grodek said. "People realize that we need to win these next games in order to seed ourselves well in the (conference) tournament because the Big Ten's hard."\nThe Hoosiers did not do anything special or different to prepare for this weekend. The players simply focused on the fundamentals of soccer and feel those will get them the results they desire.\n"We just need to make sure we concentrate on the little things, like finishing and getting the ball out when the ball is in the air, that type of stuff. But I believe we're ready for the challenge."\nGoals have been like a river all season for IU -- either flowing rapidly or barely trickling. The Hoosiers recently have dominated their opponents but have not won. However, freshman forward Lindsay McCarthy offered a solution.\n"I think we need to shoot more," McCarthy said. "We have been working on taking fewer touches on the ball before we shoot so defenders can't get the ball from us."\nNorthwestern is currently 7-6-1 overall, 3-4 in the conference, and ranks second in the conference in goals with 31 despite sitting ninth in the conference.\nThe Wildcats offense is led by freshman forward Kelsey Hans, who has 11 goals and 24 points, and sophomore goalkeeper Whitney Jones, who boasts a goals against average of 1.20 to go with a .761 save percentage.\nNo. 24 Illinois (10-4, 4-3) has a perfect 5-0 record at home while outscoring opponents 13-3. Its offense is led by scoring forward duo of senior Tara Hurless and sophomore Jessica Bayne. Both players are tied for the team lead with seven goals, while Hurless also leads the Illini with five assists and 19 points.\nThe Illini's senior All-American goalkeeper Leisha Alcia has six shutouts on the year, ranking second in the Big Ten, coupled with a .730 goals against average and a .861 save percentage.\nEven though the regular season is coming to a close and the results matter, IU really has not talked about the postseason.\n"As far as talking about the postseason, we really don't go there," said IU coach Mick Lyon. "We just go out there and look at the next game, and take care of business and move ourselves forward. For us, these final games are just a few more fun times this season."\n-- Contact staff writer John Fischer at jbfische@indiana.edu.