It has been 658 days since the IU women’s soccer team won a competitive match at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The winless drought stretches back to Oct. 31, 2014, when the Hoosiers defeated Michigan State 2-0 in their season finale.
The team’s last overall victory came 350 days ago in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when it defeated Middle Tennessee State 2-0 in the Stomp in the Swamp tournament at Louisiana State University.
IU will look to end both of these streaks at 7 p.m. Friday when it plays Louisville to begin non-conference play for the 2016 season.
“This year’s team is young, they’re hungry and they’re competitive,” IU Coach Amy Berbary said. “It’s an exciting group of players to head into the season with.”
That group includes 11 freshmen and two redshirt freshmen. Therefore, this year’s squad will be young at just about every position on the field. To help these freshmen adjust to the team’s system and style of play, Berbary has leaned heavily on the team’s six upperclassmen to help set an example, including junior midfielder Kayla Smith.
“We have been trying to give pointers to help out the new players,” Smith said. “In practice, I try to show them where to be positioned on the field.”
Smith was one of three Hoosiers, along with senior defenders Veronica Ellis and Marissa Borschke, to be named to the 2016 Big Ten Women’s Soccer Preseason Honors List.
However, while IU’s defense retains Ellis and Borschke for another season, the same can’t be said for the midfield, with last year’s leading goal scorer Jessie Bujouves lost due to graduation.
Goalkeeper will also be a position of intrigue for IU in 2016, as last year’s starter Sarah Stone was also lost to graduation.
Bristal Hadley-Mautino and Sarah L’Hommedieu, two freshmen, are in line to take over in the net for Stone, but Berbary has yet to make a final decision.
“It has been a real battle between the two of them for the starting spot,” Berbary said. “I still don’t know who will start on Friday. We may decide on game day. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up playing them both.”
Friday’s match against the Cardinals will be the third all-time meeting between the schools, with the Hoosiers winning both prior meetings in 1994 and 1997. Louisville missed out on the NCAA Tournament last season after posting a 4-5-1 record in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Like IU, Louisville starts its 2016 campaign without two key offensive players from 2015 after Rachel Avant and Casey Whitfield both graduated. Senior goalkeeper Taylor Bucklin returns for the Cardinals, though, after recording five shutouts as a junior.
Finding the back of the net has been a point of emphasis for the Hoosiers this past offseason, after scoring just 11 goals in 19 matches last season. IU was able to score twice in a 2-1 exhibition win at Cincinnati on Aug. 13, a game that sophomore defender Caroline Dreher thought built confidence for the team.
“There was a good energy around the team that I could sense during the Cincinnati game,” Dreher said. “I felt that we played well as a team.”
Berbary has made a conscious effort to try to improve the team’s scoring ability in the build-up to this season, as it is just three years removed from a season in which it racked up 43 goals.
The Big Ten Women’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll lists IU at 12th, ahead of just Iowa and Maryland. However, the prediction doesn’t phase Dreher.
“We have had a really good preseason,” Dreher said. “We are expecting to do big things this season.”
