Hoosiers to face Illinois, Oakland as challenging stretch of games begin

The IU women’s soccer team finally broke into the national top 25 this week, coming in at No. 24. The Hoosiers will seek to demonstrate that they deserve that recognition as they begin the most trying part of the season.\nThe Hoosiers head to Champagne, Ill., tonight as they prepare to end the Big Ten season with road games against four of the five teams ranked ahead of them in Big Ten preseason polls.\nTheir only home game the rest of the season will be Sunday’s non-conference match against the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies, who are currently riding a five-game unbeaten streak.\nLast year, Illinois finished second in the Big Ten and reached the third round of the NCAA tournament. But the Illini are currently underachieving from their preseason rank of 20, and did not receive any votes for this week’s top 25 poll.\nIllinois will not be any easy match for the Hoosiers, however. In their last eight meetings with the Fighting Illini, the Hoosiers are 0-6-2, including losses in the last two meetings. \nLast year’s meeting saw IU lose 1-0 as the team finished its regular season with four straight losses.\n“Last year, we lost to them when we went there, so it is kind of revenge – we are wanting to redeem ourselves,” sophomore defender Kelly Lawrence said. \nThe Fighting Illini are 3-2-1 in conference play, placing them fourth in the Big Ten. But Illinois has been nearly unbeatable this year at home, posting a 5-1-1 record.\n“It is going to be a tough game.” senior midfielder Beverly Markwort said. “They are always tough, and they are ranked up there at the top of the Big Ten. So it is a big game, it is the start of a bunch of good games we’ll have to play.”\nThe No. 24 Hoosiers will go into the match with a 13-game unbeaten streak and an overall record of 11-1-2. They are 5-0-1 in Big Ten play.\n“We kind of thought we should have been ranked the last few weeks, but it definitely means that we are going in the right direction and we are a team that is up there and should be in the NCAA tournament,” Lawrence said. “Last year, the highest we got ranked was 16th, and I feel like we are a better team this year, so we definitely deserve 24th.”\nMuch of IU’s recent success has come off of the foot of sophomore forward Kristin Arnold, who is tied atop the Big Ten with nine goals.\nArnold was named to Soccer America’s Team of the Week and Soccer Buzz’s Elite Team of the Week this week for her exceptional performance, scoring three goals in two games last weekend.\nAfter this weekend’s matches, IU will finish its season with road games against Ohio State, No. 8 Penn State and No. 5 Purdue. \nThose three teams and Illinois made up the top four teams in the Big Ten coaches’ preseason rankings. IU ranked sixth.\n“We definitely need to get points against the better teams in the Big Ten,” Markwort said. “And now that we are ranked No. 24, we want to show we can beat the better teams. The last four games are the better teams.”\nIU will face off against Illinois at 7 p.m. Friday, and then host Oakland at noon Sunday.\n“(The Illinois match) is an important game,” IU coach Mick Lyon said. “Every game from now on is important, that’s where we have put ourselves.”