Men's soccer looks to break trend

Three weekends have come and gone.

Six games — three Friday losses, three Sunday wins — leave the men’s soccer team on an even playing field.

This Friday the team takes another shot at getting past the .500 bubble.

But this time, they won’t have a Sunday game to even the score if Friday doesn’t go as planned.

Senior midfielder Rich Balchan said a Friday game doesn’t matter to them. It could be a Saturday, Tuesday or Wednesday match-up for all they care.

The Hoosiers are just looking forward to bringing the energy to the first Big Ten game of the season against Penn State at State College, Pa.

“There’s been a lot of energy at practice knowing that Big Ten season is starting,” Balchan said. “I expect the energy to be really high, and I expect the effort to be relentless.”

With an 83-12-9 record in Big Ten matches, IU historically does well in conference play. After a 3-3 regular season finish in the Big Ten last year, the Hoosiers are ready for a clean slate.

“Every year we’re excited to get into the Big Ten season, and we know in order to win the conference, we have to win the regular season to get a No. 1 seed going in the tournament and get a bye,” Balchan said. “We always know how important it is to win Big Ten games.”

IU coach Todd Yeagley knows how important it is to have Balchan return after he missed the first three games of the season with an ankle injury and said he is glad to have the versatile and talented player back on the pitch.

“The good fortune is that he will be used in a lot of spots,” Yeagley said. “He’s an excellent defender and one that can help our tact, so wherever we end up using him this weekend, he strengthens our team. Plus, people have a little extra bounce in their step when they look over and see Rich running next to them. He’s a positive influence in a lot of ways.”

The Nittany Lions enter the match 5-1, with a junior goalkeeper who has compiled four shutouts and 19 saves.

“If they were 4-2 or 3-3, we’d still evaluate what their strengths and weaknesses are,” Yeagley said. “They’re a confident group. At 5-1 you’ve obviously had some things go well for you.”

While the importance of Big Ten games hasn’t changed. Yeagley said the strength of the conference has progressed, and his team will be pumped and ready to go for the first conference game of the 2010 season.

“The team knows that through the history of the league we’ve been the top program,” Yeagley said.

“Whether that’s through titles or through winning percentage, the players do know that, and they take a lot of pride in that. Our goal is to get IU back to the top of the Big Ten where we have found ourselves more often than not. That’s going to take really good performances and an unbelievable amount of focus and discipline in each of those games.”