IU made it four wins in a row after defeating IUPUI with a score of 4-0 Wednesday. This victory was also IU’s biggest this season and it looked to bring its run of goal scoring with it as the team heads back into Big Ten action Saturday against Ohio State.
“We are the top 10 in the country for shots created, so you know we are doing some good things,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “We are creating 17 or 18 shots a game and that’s a good sign, then you know our offense is clicking well and we are getting into danger positions and we just have to get more clinical. We are making strides, and I like where we are getting offensively.”
IU beat Ohio State in both the conference and the Big Ten tournament last season by a score of 2-1 in both matches, and the Hoosiers lead the Buckeyes 40-4-3 in the all-time series.
The Hoosiers are currently second to last in the Big Ten standings. A win would allow IU to rank above Ohio State, who is sixth in the standings, as only one point separates the teams.
Both the Hoosiers and the Buckeyes head into Saturday’s matchup on a run of four consecutive victories.
“They (Ohio State) have some leadership in midfield and they have a real crafty striker with Jensen and some very other good supporting players,” Yeagley said. “It’s a team that can get you in different ways and we have to be really good on Saturday to get a result.”
The Hoosiers have a few players who are starting to get into their stride, like freshman midfielder Rees Wedderburn who played more than half the game Wednesday.
“It felt good today and I played over 45 minutes,” Wedderburn said. “It felt good and I’m hoping to play a lot more.”
Senior forward Femi Hollinger-Janzen, who scored in the game against IUPUI and is now on a run of four goals in his last five games, said he is looking forward to Saturday’s game against Ohio State.
“I’m feeling confident and feeling good,” Hollinger-Janzen said. “Credit to my teammates for helping me out with those goals. Ohio State on Saturday is a very good Big Ten team, and we are definitely looking to put a couple back in on them.”
Yeagley said Saturday’s match will be a tough one and that Ohio State’s team possesses more talent than what the statistic lists credit it with.
“Ohio State’s a really good team. They started the year slow with results but if you look at the talent in their team and watch a bit of their preseason they looked really sharp,” Yeagley said. “They’re a much better team than their .500 and this is going to be really big game on Saturday.”
