IU to face Iowa, begin final stretch of season

The No. 24 Hoosiers will take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.

The game will mark IU’s return home after a double overtime contest against Michigan.

Nearing their final stretch of conference play, the Hoosiers play five games in 13 days starting Sunday. The game’s are scheduled closely , however, back in September the team had four games in eight days, so they feel as if they’ve prepared for it.

“One of the things to help with it is to shorten practices and not do as much training,” IU women’s soccer coach Mick Lyon said. “But, I feel we’ve already been there and done that and been successful so we’ll be all right.”

Currently, Iowa sits alone at the bottom of the Big Ten conference play at 0-5. They’re a very young team with eight freshman sharing time on the field and a lot of instability as far as the line-up goes.

“We’re going to go after them. We’ll try to create disruption and force mistakes and not let them get into any organized movement,” Lyon said. “But, [Iowa women’s soccer coach] Ron Reiney’s teams are very well organized, so we’ll have to be on our toes.”

Iowa junior forward Keli McLaughlin leads the Hawkeyes with eight goals and 17 total points. Sophomore forward Alyssa Cosnek leads the team in shots on goal and shots on goal percentage with 14 and .452 respectively.

The Hoosiers are averaging 1.5 goals per game on 14.5 shots. Lyon said efficiency may be the difference maker in the game on Sunday.

“Are we going to finish those clear-cut chances in front of the goal,” Lyon asked. “We’re getting them; we’re just not finishing them. We’ll also need to move the ball more quickly.”

Also on Sunday will be Senior Night. Each of the seven seniors will be honored before the game.