The IU women’s soccer team has played three teams currently ranked in the top 25, playing both Virginia Tech and Notre Dame before bowing out. The test against Minnesota, Coach Amy Berbary said, should be one the Hoosiers are used to.
IU will look to build off a pair of draws they earned to start the Big Ten season last weekend against Illinois and Northwestern. IU will face a struggling Wisconsin team in Madison on Friday night before heading to Minnesota to take on a possible Big Ten title contender.
“I’m looking for goals,” Berbary said. “I’m looking for us to just be a little more dangerous and force the goalkeepers to make plays. We need more shots on goal and continue to push forward. We are continuing to work on being a little more threatening in the offense. We’ve got to figure out who is going to step up for us.”
Junior forward Lauren Joray’s first career goal late in Sunday’s game allowed the Hoosiers to come away with a draw against Northwestern. Although IU was able to find an offensive source, the lack of offensive firepower has been a common theme this season. The Hoosiers have scored just seven times in 10 games — a 2-0 win against Middle Tennessee State was the only multi-goal game for IU.
“We’ve been really working on getting the balls out wide in practice,” Joray said. “We have to make good runs, good numbers into the box.”
The Golden Gophers enter this weekend’s Big Ten games with a record of 7-1-2 and have not lost in the four games that they have played in Minneapolis. Minnesota, is coming off an impressive 2-0 road weekend to open up Big Ten play, including wins against No. 4 Penn State and No. 20 Ohio State.
Junior forward Simone Kolander poses the biggest offensive threat for Minnesota. Kolander has scored five goals in ten games thus far, and three of those have counted as game-winning tallies. Thirteen different Gophers have scored on the year.
“The reason that they’re No. 20 is because they just beat No. 20 and No. 4,” Berbary said. “They beat Ohio State and Penn State, so they’re on a high right now, very athletic and just a good soccer team.”
On the other side of the field, the Golden Gopher defense is statistically one of the strongest in the Big Ten. Minnesota has allowed just four goals on the season, courtesy of junior goalkeeper Tarah Hobbs’ 0.31 goals against average. Hobbs has started eight of her team’s 10 games, allowing three goals and collecting 34 saves on the year.
Half of IU’s games this season have gone to overtime, which causes the concern of fatigue and not being able to come out with wins. With multiple season-ending injuries, Berbary has been proud of her team’s fitness and character, especially when the Hoosiers have had to play from behind.
“It’s not as much frustrating as it is rewarding,” Berbary said of the team’s four draws. “It’s tough to get that golden goal. The fact that we haven’t lost those games, I’m really proud of. It takes effort and battle — to do it last Sunday, again, just shows the effort that our team has.”
IU will have to put the pieces together to earn a result on the road against one of the nation’s best.
“This is the fittest team that I have ever had,” Berbary said. “I thank them for that, because if we weren’t fit right now, we’d have so many players breaking down. We’re really trying to work with the science of things and asking the players how they’re feeling.”
