IU seeks to stop 3-game losing streak today at home

Three losses in a row may not seem disastrous to some college soccer teams – unless the last time the team in question suffered a losing streak that bad was seven years ago.\nToday, the IU men’s soccer team hopes to break out of its worst losing streak since 2000 when the team takes on unranked in-state foe Butler at 7 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium. IU coach Mike Freitag said he knows it doesn’t take much to lose a game but also said he thinks his team has refocused.\n“You make one silly mistake or one mental mistake and you can get punished by it, and that’s what we’ve done in the last three games,” Freitag said. “It’s not going to happen (against Butler).”\nFreshman forward Andy Adlard is also confident in his team’s performance this week and hopes to get a win in his first meeting with the Bulldogs.\n“I think we’re feeling good,” Adlard said. “Those losses definitely gave us an awareness check. Our practices have been much more intense and focused. Hopefully, we can get a good result and continue it through the season.”\nPicked to win the Big Ten in the preseason, the Hoosiers are currently ranked below Northwestern and Michigan, coming in at No. 19 nationally. That is a drastic drop from the No. 2 ranking they reached only two weeks ago. \nThe Hoosiers suffered their last defeat at the hands of University of Alabama at Birmingham Friday when the Blazers scored the game-winning goal with a little more than a minute left in regulation. \nFreitag said that, after reviewing the tape, he was satisfied with how his team played in the second half. Getting his team to play with that same intensity for the whole game has been the focus in practice this week.\n“I think we’ve, for the most part, concentrated on the effort that was there the second half,” Freitag said. “There’s a feeling. Everybody on that field was confident and making things happen. And that’s what we kind of stressed. When we do that, we’re as good as anybody in the country.”\nIU holds a 16-1-1 record against the Bulldogs. \nIn their last meeting, Butler held a 2-1 lead for the majority of the game. But in the last 15 minutes of the game, the Hoosiers went on an offensive attack, netting three goals in quick succession and a 4-2 Hoosier victory.\nSophomore back Ofori Sarkodie has some experience with the Bulldogs and is confident that if IU matches Butler’s intensity, stays composed and sticks to the game plan laid out by the coaches, the Hoosiers will come out with a victory.\n“We know exactly what we need to do to win this game,” Sarkodie said. “It’s going to be a great match. I think this is going to be a real confidence booster for our team to let us know where we’re at in the season right now.”