IU womens soccer looking to defeat Purdue in last regular season game

After losing a 2-1 game at Purdue last year on a rain-soaked pitch, the IU women’s soccer team has to travel to Purdue again this year to try and exact revenge in the final game of the season.\n“Last year was tough, going to their field and playing in a rainstorm with water everywhere and losing,” said sophomore forward Kristin Arnold.\nBeating Purdue would mean topping the No. 8 team in the nation. It would also be the program’s first victory over the Boilermakers since 1999, even though their last 10 meetings have been decided by one goal. \n“It’s been a long time since we beat them,” IU coach Mick Lyon said. “We haven’t beaten them since I’ve been here. I’ve felt we have been very close, but getting that ‘W’ is very important and needs to get done.”\nThe Hoosiers’ season this year has many parallels with last year’s. For two straight years, IU has gone undefeated in the month of September.\nLast season’s team posted a 14-game unbeaten streak, while this year’s squad notched a 13-game unbeaten streak.\nThe similarities don’t end there. Last season, the Hoosiers dropped their last four Big Ten matches and lost in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.\nThis year, the team is heading down the same path. The Hoosiers have dropped their last three matches during a streak of having to finish their Big Ten season on the road against the top four teams in conference.\n“I’m not worried about the team lacking confidence,” Lyon said. “Yes, it’s a little bit of deja vu from last year, but this year, we are playing extremely well. Last year, I felt like we were just playing OK. Anybody who watched the Penn State game saw we played tremendous against a top Big Ten team.”\nOther than possibly playing against each other in high school, some of the Purdue and Indiana players have gotten to know each other. Over the summer, both teams were represented on the national champion Carmel Cyclones under-19 club team.\nFive sophomores from IU played on the squad – Arnold, midfielders Nikki Bonacorsi, Christie Kotynski, Natalie O’Bryan and defender Jessica Boots. \nPurdue’s goalkeeper, redshirt sophomore Jenny Bradfisch, tended net for the club. She leads the Big Ten in fewest goals against, allowing an average of 0.54 goals per game.\nArnold said she also knows Boilermakers senior midfielders Shauna Stapleton and Jordyn Shaffer from playing for her Dayton club team in high school, and that she is looking forward to playing her old teammates.\n“I always looked up to them. They are excellent players,” Arnold said. “So to be on the same field with them and to have a team I know we can beat them with is great.”\nO’Bryan said it wasn’t that big of a deal to her to be playing her club teammates.\n“It’s always fun playing against your friends,” O’Bryan said. “But when you step on the field, they are no longer friends.”\nThe Hoosiers know this game is more important than an in-state rivalry or a reunion with old teammates. They have played well in their last two losses, losing by only one goal in each match, but need a win in their final game to gather what momentum they can heading into the Big Ten Tournament.\n“It’s always huge having momentum going into the postseason,” Arnold said. “We were really unlucky last weekend not to get two wins. We can no longer play well and just not get the win.”