Women's soccer to play at Purdue tonight

There will be more than just three points in the Big Ten on the line when the IU women’s soccer team (11-4-1, 4-4) travels to the Boilermaker Soccer Complex for a match against Purdue (8-7-1, 3-5) tonight.

The teams will play for the Golden Boot traveling trophy, which was implemented in 2002 as an added piece to the in-state rivalry.

Purdue leads the all-time series against IU (12-2-3).

Last season, the Hoosiers won the trophy for the first time since its inception.

This year, they are looking to keep it in Bloomington.

“We want it,” junior midfielder Jordan Woolums said. “There’s always a bit of pride involved against a rival team. We never want to lose, but we never want to lose to them.”

IU Coach Amy Berbary said she thinks the extra incentives of playing an in-state rival for a trophy will create an exciting atmosphere.

“I think the emotions will be flying,” Berbary said. “I don’t think it matters if we were good this season or if Purdue has been good this season. The added emotion of an in-state rival is just going to be huge.”

The Boilermakers are currently riding a three-game losing streak, but have been significantly tougher to beat at home, where they have a record of 6-3-1.

Purdue has been somewhat inconsistent in conference so far this season.

The Boilermakers have picked up wins against Big Ten rivals Minnesota and Ohio State but have lost to Michigan State.

“We don’t really know what to expect,” Woolums said. “We don’t really know how they are going to come out.

They have beaten a lot of higher teams but then had some losses. We just have to expect the unexpected.”

Unlike some of the more recent teams IU has played, the Boilermakers do not have one stand-out offensive weapon.

“We’ve played teams that have one player that we really need to account for, but they have quite a few,” Berbary said. “We just need to play good team defense and have some good individual defending and go from there.”

A win against Purdue tonight would ensure IU will finish ahead of the Boilermakers in the Big Ten standings, putting the Hoosiers one step closer to getting into the Big Ten Tournament.

“A win would be huge,” Berbary said. “It would get us one step closer to our immediate goal of getting into the Big Ten Tournament, not to mention implications further down.

“Things have been on our side, but right now we are in a position where we are still creating our destiny, and that is a good spot for us to be.”

Follow reporter Sam Beishuizen on Twitter @Sam_Beishuizen.