With only six Big Ten matches remaining in the regular season, the IU women’s soccer team is running out of time to secure a spot in the Big Ten Women’s Soccer Tournament.
IU is currently tied with Michigan State for the final playoff spot in the Big Ten standings. Both the Hoosiers and Spartans have earned six points from five conference games, and both teams have a goal differential of -3.
If IU wants to qualify for its first Big Ten Women’s Soccer Tournament since 2013, it will have to rise to the occasion in a pair of difficult home weekend matches. Games against No. 13 Penn State on Thursday night and No. 24 Rutgers on Sunday afternoon will mark the only time this season IU faces two top-25 teams consecutively.
“This whole year, I think we’ve taken the mentality of being the underdog,” IU Coach Amy Berbary said. “It’s what we are. Most of the people who believe we can win games are the coaching staff and our players. All we need is the belief that we can win.”
The Hoosiers would become the first Big Ten team to defeat the defending NCAA champion Nittany Lions this season if they could score an upset victory at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Penn State, 8-2-2 overall, enters the match with a 4-0-1 conference record and trails only Michigan in the Big Ten standings.
A victory for IU on Thursday would not only be considered an upset based on the two teams’ records this season, but also in a historical context as well. In 25 all-time meetings between the Hoosiers and Nittany Lions, only once have the Hoosiers emerged victorious.
That sole IU victory came on Nov. 8, 1996, before several members of the current IU team were born. The win also did not come in a regular season Big Ten match, but rather during the Big Ten Women’s Soccer Tournament.
The Nittany Lions have also won each of their last four games, including three via a defensive shutout.
Those shutouts can be attributed in large part to the play of freshman goalkeeper Amanda Dennis, who surrenders less than 0.75 goals per game on average to opponents.
At the other end of the pitch, junior forward Frannie Crouse leads the Penn State attack. Crouse has netted eight goals this season, which is at least double the amount scored by any other player on the Penn State team.
In order to try and combat Crouse and the Penn State offense, Berbary will look to IU’s experienced players to set the correct tone during the game.
“I think we need to continue to grow in the first 20 minutes of the game. We have to start at the whistle,” Berbary said. “We need the leadership coming from our few juniors and seniors that have been in this situation for a number of years.”
Berbary knows that her team’s window to reach the postseason is closing, and this weekend’s matches will go a long way in determining how many games IU has left this season.
“If we can stick together and find a way to grab one or two of these games this weekend, then we’re in good shape,” Berbary said. “We are guaranteed six games left and we want to play more.”
