No. 9 Hoosiers to battle Billikens in St. Louis

Seventeen NCAA men's soccer championships will be represented on the field when the two most storied programs in NCAA soccer history square off Friday night.\nThe IU men's soccer team takes on St. Louis University tonight and will be searching for more than just another win. The Hoosiers want to notch another victory against another prestigious program and continue to compete for the top recruits in the area.\nThe Billikens produce some of the best youth soccer talent in the nation and have been an important recruiting ground for IU coach Mike Freitag, a St. Louis native.\n"Its homecoming for me. That's where I'm from, so we always want to do well over there," Freitag said. "It's a recruiting war also. St. Louis has been a good recruiting place for us, so it's important for us to do well in front of the people of St. Louis."\nThe Hoosiers will also look to get revenge on the Billikens, who won the Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic earlier this season.\n"The St. Louis game should be big," sophomore goalkeeper Chay Cain said. "They obviously won our tournament, so we want to go there and beat them."\nIt will be the fifth road game in seven games for the No. 9 Hoosiers. IU has become accustomed to life away from home. Not only has the team had many road games, but its practice facility at Bill Armstrong Stadium is being renovated this season.\nThe repairs have forced the Hoosiers to practice at Karst Farm Park, Memorial Stadium, University Gym and Mellencamp Pavilion.\n"It's nice to have options," Freitag said. "Sometimes to make things better you have to take a little detour. It's kind of Coach Hoeppner to make the stadium available to us in the morning and to have great facilities. We are adaptable."\nIn addition to the change of venue, the team now practices in the morning, starting around 8 a.m.\n"Things just get a little more complicated making sure everyone is on the same page -- where to be and everything," Cain said. "It is nice to get up early and get the training session over for the day so you have the rest of the day to do whatever you want."\nThe team won't let the unpredictable practice situation affect preparation for Friday's game against a Billiken team that has been ranked this season.\n"I just watched their tape from the Classic this weekend, and they are a very good team," Freitag said. "Being at home, I'm sure they will be even more pumped up."\nThe game will be broadcast on CSTV, CBS's college sports network. The Hoosiers hope to use the national broadcast to rebound from two early loses on the season.\n"It's a huge game and we have come together as a team, and we decided we need to turn around the season," senior midfielder John Michael Hayden said. "Two losses already is not what we need, and we are going to turn it around."\nThe early season has not been forgiving for the Hoosiers. But the team isn't letting changes in practice schedules and a slate of tough road games keep it from being successful.\n"We just roll with the punches," Hayden said.