Familiar fork

Other than being the first game of the Big Ten season, Friday night’s game against Northwestern will have extra meaning for the IU women’s soccer team. \nLast year, Northwestern snapped IU’s 13-game unbeaten streak during which the Hoosiers had accrued a 9-0-4 record. After the loss, the Hoosiers’ season took a nose dive, and the team went from being ranked in the national top 25 to losing their three remaining games of the season. They then lost in the first round of the Big Ten tournament and did not qualify for the NCAA tournament.\n“We definitely have to go out there and redeem ourselves,” sophomore defender Jessica Boots said. “We need to start out with a high intensity and try and play our game and put the pressure on them.”\nThe Wildcats have a 5-2-2 record, and IU coach Mick Lyon said that they are a budding and respectable program.\n“They made a coaching change two years ago and have done a super job with their program,” Lyon said. “They have nice soccer players. We need to pounce on them and play in the back line like we have been.” \nMuch like last year, the Hoosiers have built up momentum in the games leading to their contest with the Wildcats. In their last seven games, IU is undefeated with six wins and one draw.\n“The girls definitely have pep in their steps,” Lyon said. “We put them through a tough, physical training session on Tuesday and they responded really well. We have been working on building up confidence in training sessions, and now we just need to take the confidence and put in on the pitch come game time.”\nOne athlete who has some “pep in her step” is sophomore midfielder Christie Kotynski. She is the team leader in goals and assists at five and four, respectively. \nLast week alone, Kotynski added three goals and an assist to her season total. \nAgainst Butler on Sept. 19, she had a game-tying goal in the 62nd minute of play, which gave her team the momentum it needed to score another goal and win the game 2-1.\nThen against Evansville on Sunday, Kotynski scored two more goals and added an assist as the Hoosiers went on to win the match 4-0.\nBecause of the week she had, Kotynski was named the Big Ten Player of the Week and was named to the Soccer Buzz Elite Team of the Week. Soccer Buzz is a magazine dedicated to collegiate women’s soccer.\nAmidst the accolades, Kotynski remained humble. \n“(Receiving this recognition) is cool,” Kotynski said. “It’s surprising though. There are so many good players out there that I’m surprised I was chosen. But it’s definitely cool.”\nKotynski is currently tied for second in the Big Ten with 14 points this season, one behind conference leader, Lindsey Schwartz of Minnesota.\nA point is a statistic that assigns a numerical value for goals and assists. A player gets two points for a goal and one for an assist.\nAfter Northwestern, the Hoosiers will continue Big Ten play as they host Wisconsin at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Badgers come to Bloomington after dropping a game to in-state foe UW-Milwaukee 1-0. The Badgers’ record currently sits at 3-3-1. They will face Purdue on Friday afternoon. \nLyon stressed that both Big Ten games this weekend and every Big Ten contest in the future are very important to the team.\n“Every game from here on out is important,” Lyon said. “We want to get wins out of every weekend.” \nThe Hoosiers will try to get their first win of conference play at 7 p.m. Friday as they host Northwestern at Bill Armstrong Stadium.