IU womens soccer thrashed by Purdue; Big Ten tournament next

Incapacitated by injuries, the IU women’s soccer team was “shell-shocked” by rival No. 8 Purdue 7-0 in West Lafayette on Friday afternoon. \nWith the loss, the Hoosiers finish their regular season fourth in the Big Ten for the second season in a row at 5-4-1 in conference, 12-5-2 overall. \nThree of IU’s top contributors were injured heading into the game. Sophomore midfielder Christie Kotynski suffered a broken nose a week earlier against Ohio State, senior midfielder Beverly Markwort missed five games this season after knee surgery and is currently plagued by a rib injury and senior midfielder Katy Stewart was unable to train all week, IU coach Mick Lyon said. \nPurdue’s first two goals came in the sixth minute. Purdue senior midfielder Shauna Stapleton struck first as she curved the ball off the crossbar and into the net for her ninth goal of \nthe season. \nFifty-five seconds later, senior midfielder/forward Parrissa Eyorokon added another goal, putting the Boilermakers \nup 2-0.\nThe Boilermakers scored on all four of their first attempts.\n“It was just one of those days,” Lyon said. “And certainly not to take anything away from Purdue, they’re a great team. But when you get shell-shocked like that with the first four shots going in and three of your top players on the sideline, that’s tough”\nBy halftime, Purdue was \nup 5-0. \n“It was 5-0 at the half, so we only let up two goals in the second with half of our first team playing,” Lyon said. “So, that’s the good part. We are not too worried about the result, more about what we can learn from the adversity the \ngame brought.” \nAfter the game, Lyon said that his main concerns weren’t with the result of the game.\n“My concern is not necessarily with the game, but the health of my top players and the psyche of the youngsters,” he said. “Because what happened was when those first three shots went in, all of the sudden the youngsters made like ostriches and buried their heads in the sand and hoped that everything would \ngo away.”\nSomething else the Hoosiers would like to go away is the similarity between last year’s implosion and what has happened in the last four Big Ten games for IU. Fresh off of a long win streak last season, IU lost its last four Big Ten games, and then lost in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.\nLike last year, the Hoosiers dropped their last four Big Ten games to finish the regular season. They will try and shake the comparisons to last year on Thursday, as they take on Ohio State in the first round of the \nconference tournament.