For the most part, the second-year women’s soccer coach has preached results and reaching team goals during her time at IU.
But after meeting with a few seniors about a slow start to the season, Berbary has decided to stray away from talking purely results.
Instead, she’s looking for effort.
She said this year’s team doesn’t have the talent that last year’s did. To compensate, she’s pushing her athletes to work harder and compete harder in games.
It’s a radically different concept from what the Hoosiers used last year while making an NCAA Tournament run, but it’s a decision Berbary said she thinks is necessary with IU set to play Illinois at 3:30 p.m. today in Champaign, Ill.
“We’ve kind of had to change it, because if we’re not taking care of ourselves and what we are doing individually, the results aren’t going to come anyway,” Berbary said.
She went on to explain that she asked a few seniors to define what kind of team this year’s Hoosiers are.
Last year the team prided itself on being disrespected, she said. IU was a preseason pick to finish last in the Big Ten and aimed to prove voting coaches wrong.
This year’s team was a preseason pick to finish 10th. The Hoosiers want to define themselves as a blue-collar, possession-based team.
“What defines us now is we’re hardworking,” Berbary said. “We defend with 11 and we’re fit and physical. That should be able to push us along.”
Throughout all of Tuesday’s practice leading into tonight’s game, Berbary and her coaching staff focused on competition.
She said the team members haven’t consistently shown effort in games that they needed to, so she’s simulating it with team scrimmages and drills.
“We didn’t talk technique. We didn’t talk about where you were supposed to be. We talked purely effort,” Berbary said. “And I think that was the best thing our team needed right now.”
The Hoosiers (4-4, 0-2) will look to compete against a No. 22 Illinois (6-2, 1-1) team that is ranked for the first time in its program history.
Illinois is led offensively by senior forward Jannelle Flaws, who has six goals and two assists in eight games this season. She had two goals against IU in as many games last ?season.
The Fighting Illini defense has been the team’s backbone as of late. Illinois has four shutouts and only four goals allowed in its past seven games.
IU junior midfielder Jessie Bujouves has led the Hoosier offense this season with five goals. She said the Hoosiers need to do a better job of pushing numbers and creating offense from their defense.
“We just need to continue to exploit spaces,” Bujouves said. “We need to do a better job of capitalizing on our chances ... We need to defend to attack.”
IU sits last in the Big Ten standings after two games. Only the top eight teams will qualify for the Big Ten Tournament in November.
Even though it is still early, IU senior midfielder Jordan Woolums said the team realizes the importance of positioning in the standings in the initial Big Ten games.
She said a win would go a long way toward building team morale and positioning the Hoosiers for the ?postseason.
“We want some points,” Woolums said. “It would definitely help us. We’re ready to win some games and put some points on the board.”
