Women's soccer has lost last 4 games by 1-0 decisions, but coaches remain positive

At this point last season, the IU women’s soccer team found itself with a 10-1-2, 3-0-1 record usually finding a way to win the close game, winning nine games by one goal, but the Hoosiers have yet to find the success they had last year.

The Hoosiers (5-8-0, 0-4-0) are on a current four-game losing streak, with all the losses coming by a 1-0 deficit. IU will again look to get its first conference win this weekend as they go on the road to take on two teams they were able to defeat last year at Wisconsin and Northwestern.

“This year we are just getting a little bit unlucky,” said junior midfielder Kristin Arnold. “We are taking things out of the games. We have been playing really well. Luck just isn’t necessarily going our way.

“We just need to stay focused, because it’s still a chance so don’t think we’ve forgotten about that.”

Despite the four losses coming in the Hoosiers’ first four conference games, junior co-captain Jessica Boots reminded her team that the goal to make it to the postseason isn’t out of reach.

“I’m just trying to make everyone stay positive,” she said. “We still have a chance to make it to the NCAAs. I’m just reminding the players that we had four losses last year and we have four losses now, so we still have a chance to make it to the tournament.”

To go along with the current four-game losing streak, the Hoosiers have not scored in four games and will use this weekend’s games to switch things up to try and generate more offense.

“We are looking to play a little bit of a different formation to try to get more people in the attack,” Arnold said. “We were playing with two up top, so we are going to try to change that up a little bit.

“I think we’re going to play a formation similar to what we played last year, and we’ll probably get success out of that.”

IU coach Mick Lyon confirmed a different formation for this weekend’s game, but was quick to say the change is not all his team needs.

“The new formation will help us, but the key is finding that player who is going to break through and be a little bit more decisive when they’re finishing,” Lyon said. “For the most part we’ve had chances, we’ve just lacked composure trying to finish.”

Through this rough stretch in the season, Lyon said he and his team must stay optimistic.

“As coaches we’ve just got to remain positive,” Lyon said. “We are talking about all the good things we are doing and not dwelling on the negatives. If we talk about good, good things will happen.”