Hoosiers welcome Akron tonight for Senior Night

IU coach Mike Freitag and his three seniors are so focused on tonight's match with No. 1 University of Akron, they said they pretty much forgot about another important event -- Senior Night.\nNot only will fans be treated to the team ranked No. 1 in the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll, but this could be the last time Hoosier fans see seniors Mike Ambersley, Jordan Chirico and Brian Plotkin put on their uniforms and play on Yeagley Field. \nIn addition, this is the last regular season match for IU and could be one of the determining factors in whether the Hoosiers play host to any NCAA tournament matches.\nKickoff for the Hoosiers (10-1-6) and the Zips (16-0-1) is 7 p.m. at Armstrong Stadium. The cream and crimson hold a 22-3-1 all-time record versus Akron, with the three losses coming away from Yeagley Field. The two squads last met in South Bend in 2003 with IU losing 1-0 in overtime.\nAs the Hoosiers focus on an Akron squad which has held the No. 1 ranking since Oct. 11, the team said it needs to take care of business tonight as the tournament committee also looks at a team's record against other squads in its region.\nBoth IU and Akron are in the Great Lakes region, with the Zips currently holding the No. 1 ranking and the Hoosiers No. 2. This is the first time a team from Akron and the Mid-American Conference has held a national No. 1 ranking in any sport.\nAmbersley said when he came to IU in 2001 out of Baldwin, Mo., he never expected to be playing Akron as the No. 1 team in the country in the final regular season game of his Hoosier career.\n"Usually in the past we've played IUPUI or someone else at the end of the season," the midfielder said. "All my three years, we haven't played someone else even close to being the No. 1 team in the country. This is why I came here, to play in games like this." \nThis year's senior class has advanced to the College Cup every year except 2002 and has also won two Big Ten tournament titles and back-to-back NCAA National Championships in 2003 and 2004. It has also amassed a record of 61-12-14 during the last four seasons.\nAmbersley said scoring the decisive goal in the shootout in last year's national title match versus the University of California, Santa Barbara was the best moment of his IU soccer career because he was not able to experience the title in 2003, sitting out that season for personal reasons.\nChirico and Plotkin agreed winning back-to-back titles was the main highlight of their Hoosier careers.\nPlotkin, a team tri-captain and a candidate for the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, currently leads the Big Ten in points (23) and has 73 in his IU career. This ranks him No. 23 all-time for career points in Hoosier men's soccer. \n"I can still remember my first game my freshman year when we played Clemson in the (adidas/IU Credit Union) Classic," Plotkin said. "All the home games, the tournament games and the quarterfinals we had here last year against Tulsa were special just knowing they were going to take a lot of work."\nChirico started 11 of 24 matches last season in the midfield and moved to center midfield this season as Freitag looked for someone to fill the shoes of departed Hoosier and MAC Hermann Trophy winner Danny O'Rourke at the defensive midfield position. Freitag said Chirico's play this season gave the team the leadership O'Rourke brought to the field during the last two seasons.\nIU enters tonight's match coming off a 3-3 tie with Maryland Saturday evening in which IU scored its three goals in the final 20 minutes. Since losing 2-1 to Penn State in overtime on Yeagley Field, IU is 6-0-3.\n"If we come out with the result, we'll be on a roll and ready to go into the Big Ten tournament so we can start another NCAA run," Chirico said.