COLUMBUS, OHIO -- The women's soccer team needed to score. And they needed to win in the worst way.
The field hockey team survived its battle against rival No. 4 Michigan by playing a game of cat and mouse.
The women's volleyball team hoped to usher in the Big Ten season by making a statement with an opening weekend sweep of Northwestern and No. 14 Wisconsin.
The men's tennis team competed in the unscored Tom Fallon Invitational in South Bend this weekend, giving players a chance to compete and coaches a chance to see where the players stand.
The rugby team is on a mission. After narrowly missing a run at the final four of the national rugby championships last year, the team is working to avenge the loss.
It is the biggest stage in football. Everybody watches, and everybody who plays knows a national audience is watching and wants to perform to the best of their abilities.
It could be harder for IU field hockey. They could be playing one of the top three teams in the country, but instead the Hoosiers must face No. 4 Michigan at 3 p.m. today in the John Mellencamp Pavilion.
A weekend of firsts awaits the women's cross country team as it travels to St. Paul, Minn., to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational Saturday. Along with being the first time in IU history the team has participated in the meet, it will also be the first time this season the women will participate in a 6K race. This distance holds new significance this year, since the 2000 Women's NCAA Championship race will be a 6K, rather than a 5K as in previous years.
Wisconsin sits near the top of the Big Ten heading into the opening weekend of the volleyball season. Northwestern idles in the league cellar. Indiana hovers between both, not expected to contend for the conference crown, but not expected to join the Wildcats in the basement.
In a move she called a coup, former IU basketball coach Bob Knight's secretary, Mary Ann Davis will be reassigned within the University, athletics director Clarence Doninger said Thursday. Davis said she was forced to leave against her wishes by Doninger.
All four participants from IU's men's tennis team who went to the T. Rowe Price in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, but fell in National Intercollegiate Clay Court Championships in Pikesville, Md. have been eliminated.
The women's soccer team is on the road this weekend for a two-game trip. They face off against the Penn State Nittany Lions (6-2-1, 0-0) Friday then make their way to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Buckeyes (4-4, 0-1) Sunday afternoon.
Sara Reiling begins competition in her first Olympic Games today, participating in the preliminaries of the women's 10-meter platform diving competition in Sydney, Australia.
For almost a decade, the men's soccer team has dominated the Big Ten. The Hoosiers won eight of nine conference championships, and they are undefeated in 25 games against Michigan State. But things could change in the 2000 season.
The men's soccer team continued its trend of scoreless first halves Thursday, lasting the first 45 minutes without a goal against Louisville. But the Hoosiers did end a trend of waiting until the game's waning minutes to score.
Kentucky's Brandon Sanders boots a kickoff high into the lights at Commonwealth Stadium. The ball sails to the 13-yard line where IU junior Derin Graham catches it and instinctively runs full speed down the middle of the field. He reaches the 20-yard line where he's greeted by a horde of Kentucky tacklers. Without fear, Graham jumps into the pile. He spins twice, and then, amazingly, Graham balances himself with one hand, breaking free from the pile.
Three weeks, three dangerous offenses and three talented quarterbacks. This isn't the ideal situation for the football team to break in new defensive coordinator James Bell's system. In week one, the Hoosiers faced a North Carolina State offense featuring 18-year-old freshman quarterback Philip Rivers, who played well beyond his years in the Wolfpack's 41-38 victory.
Randle El has connected with just three wide receivers in the early stages of the season: Gaddis, Graham and Dorsey. But every day in practice a battle wages between IU's three established receivers and less established players such as junior college transfer Henry Frazier, redshirt freshman L.J. Parker and sophomore Glenn Johnson.
Sophomore outside hitter Hillary Toivonen tried to explain the volleyball team's new "swing" offense, but she kept laughing and shaking her head. "It's so confusing," she said. It might be hard to put into words, but the Hoosiers have broken a school record with the new offense, and three players now lead the Big Ten in offensive categories.
Coach Jerry Yeagley doesn't plan on letting his men's soccer team make the same mistake twice. IU defenders lost the ball to opposing strikers and forwards couldn't get the ball past the faster, stronger opposing defenders in a 4-1 loss to Creighton last Friday.
