Hoosiers need win, help to clinch regular season title

FROM IDS REPORTS

The IU men’s soccer team’s 3-1 loss Sunday at Michigan State effectively took away the team’s chances at controlling its own destiny to win the Big Ten regular season championship and earn a first-round bye for the conference
tournament in Evanston, Ill.

In the season finale for both teams, Northwestern and the Hoosiers will face off Thursday at 8 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium in a game with significant title implications. IU must defeat the Wildcats to have any chance at winning the championship.

Sunday, despite the Hoosiers’ loss, they benefited from two other draws in conference play. Ohio State and Penn State played to a 4-4 tie in University Park, Pa. Penn State entered the game atop the conference with 10 points and with their only loss coming against Indiana. The Buckeyes entered play Sunday at the opposite end of the standings with an 0-4-0 record.

The Buckeyes scored two goals in the final 8:09 of regulation — including a PSU own goal in the 88th minute — to force overtime. Neither team scored in the two extra sessions, and the match ended as the Big Ten’s highest-scoring contest this season.

Meanwhile, Northwestern and Wisconsin played to a 0-0 draw in Madison. The Wildcats entered play Sunday tied with the Hoosiers at nine points apiece. The Badgers stand in sixth place, earning their fourth point with the draw. Northwestern has not scored in three consecutive matches, including a 1-0 double-overtime loss against Penn State on Oct. 21.

Penn State has 11 points, Northwestern has 10 and Indiana has nine, placing them in a tie with Michigan State. The Hoosiers need the fifth-place Michigan Wolverines to tie or defeat the Spartans to win the championship, provided they beat Northwestern. The Wolverines take on the Spartans at 7 p.m. Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Penn State has now finished its regular-season slate after the team’s final match of the season, to be played today against Penn in Philadelphia, was canceled due to extreme weather.

If Indiana loses its third-consecutive conference match, Northwestern wins the Big Ten regular season championship.

— Micah McVicker