Hoosiers head to Wisconsin for first road win

Indiana is looking for goals in Madison.

The men’s soccer team hasn’t scored in its 222 minutes and 57 seconds of play. They lost 2-0 to both Notre Dame and Penn State, but after practicing finishing the attack this week, they said they hope to put a couple in the back of the net against the Badgers.  

The 4-6-1 Hoosiers will meet up with the 7-2-1 Wisconsin in Madison Friday and will try to grab their first road win of the season. The team has gotten off to a rocky start, and IU Coach Todd Yeagley said that the team is going to have to work hard to get
wins all season long.

“They’ve gotta be tough,” Yeagley said. “This isn’t going to be easy. Nothing is ever easy with the target on our back and the margin of play that we face.”

Indiana’s schedule has proved to be a challenge this year. The Hoosiers have already played four ranked opponents, and that was before Big Ten play even got into full swing.

Now they are playing some of the top teams in the conference. Yeagley said creating a tough schedule throughout the year is something that he aims for, and he doesn’t ever plan on changing that strategy because it is a way to truly test his teams.  

Yeagley said that the team doesn’t get better unless they challenge themselves, even if looking at the schedule is tough at the moment.

“I don’t change it,” Yeagley said. “When you have the goals that we set in front of us, there are high risks and high rewards.”

Indiana will have yet another tough test against the Badgers. Nick Janus leads the badgers with six goals so far this season, and key offensive player Tomislav Zadro will be back in action for the first time since late September.

Zadro, who has four assists and six points so far this season, underwent meniscus surgery and has finally been given clearance to play.

Yeagley said the team needs to expect to win every time they step on the field.  Confidence and executing their game is what Indiana needs to do to win games.

The team has been working hard on box and finishing on the attack. Junior defender Dylan Lax said that the team is going to have to execute on both ends of the field to
pull out a win against Wisconsin.

“It’s has been really tough with two losses but we’ve gotten several chances in front of the goal,” Lax said. “We’ll be ready for Wisconsin.”

Follow reporter Alyssa Extin on Twitter @alyssa_extin.