For title hopes, Hoosiers need a win

The IU men’s soccer team and Northwestern conclude their regular season tonight at Bill Armstrong Stadium with the Big Ten regular season championship at stake.

Should the Hoosiers win, they will clinch at least a share of the title. If Michigan State defeats Michigan on Saturday night, the Spartans and Hoosiers will be cochampions, and Michigan State will earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament based on the head-to-head result.

The Hoosiers are in a position to earn the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye at the Big Ten Tournament thanks in part to junior midfielder Harrison Petts’ game-winning goal at Penn State on Sept. 29.

“That was a massive step for us and a big part of our season,” senior midfielder Joe Tolen said.

The 1-0 win gave IU three crucial points in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers trail the first-place Nittany Lions by two points entering today’s regular season finale. Should Northwestern send the Hoosiers to their third-consecutive conference loss, the Wildcats win the title outright.

IU Coach Todd Yeagley said junior midfielder Jacob Bushue, injured against MSU, is getting better every day.

He suffered a left leg injury against the Spartans and left the game in the 36th minute.

Yeagley said he will wait to see how the Champaign, Ill., native feels tomorrow before making a decision.

“He feels a lot better today,” Yeagley said. “We’re optimistic.”

Sophomore defender Patrick Doody said there is some additional sense of urgency due to what’s at stake.

“Any time a championship’s on the line, you’re going to have an extra push to win the game,” he said. “There’s more at stake for tomorrow night, but if tomorrow night were to not go our way, I would not be concerned about our momentum going into the
tournament.

“We’re going to have momentum regardless of how tomorrow (Thursday) goes. We’d like to get the win and be cochamps or win it outright. We’re going to be 100 percent ready for (the postseason) regardless of tomorrow night’s result.”

Northwestern, winless in its last three matches, has not scored in Big Ten play since a 1-0 win against Ohio State on Oct. 14.

Doody, although, said that stat is insignificant.

“Northwestern’s a really good team,” he said. “They’re returning a lot of the same players. They have a very good attack. They got some good players. The fact that they haven’t put in some goals as of late, we don’t look at that at all.”

Senior defender Caleb Konstanski said the Hoosiers did some things well during their 3-1 loss at Michigan State.

Yeagley said his team created a lot of good, dangerous scoring opportunities and didn’t give the Spartans many good chances. Consequently, he said his team is in a good position going forward.

“We’re concentrating on getting a result (against Northwestern),” he said. “When you don’t have full control, you always go back to what got us to this position from the start — taking care of each game at a time and winning the small moments. When you do that, you stay focused. That’s important for our team.”