Hoosiers renew rivalry

It appears it is no longer about winning for the men's soccer team. It's about if the other team will even score.\nNotre Dame comes to Bill Armstrong Stadium tonight hoping to both score and win, and slow down a hot Hoosier team and get past a seemingly impenetrable defense. \nThe task will not be easy.\nThe Hoosiers have shutout their last four opponents and six of their last seven, winning seven in a row while bringing their record to 9-2-0. The Oct. 15 National Soccer Coaches Association of America poll ranks Indiana No. 6.\nIn playing Notre Dame, the Hoosiers renew an in-state rivalry that has not taken place since 1997. Since the series began in 1978, IU is 20-1-1 against the Fighting Irish, whose last win came in 1987.\nThis season, Notre Dame is led by their new coach Bobby Clark, who had success at Dartmouth and, most recently, with IU rival Stanford. Eight starters and 19 letter winners return from last year's squad that finished 7-8-2.\nNotre Dame (5-4-0) is led by junior forward Erich Braun from Frankfurt, Germany. He has a team-high seven goals and three assists.\nEven with the favorable history, coach Jerry Yeagley is bracing himself for a challenging match. \n"Notre Dame has always been a tough in state rival for us," Yeagley said. "You can throw the records out when these two teams play. It will be a competitive game on both ends of the field."\nSenior back Ryan Hammer agrees.\n"Notre Dame is going to be a tough physical match, because they are a good team," he said. "Just like any other team that plays us, they will come fired up, but I think (Clark) may take it a little more personal when he plays IU."\nThe story for IU in the last couple games has been its defense scoring goals in addition to preventing them.\nJunior back John Swann has scored four goals this season, and Hammer has contributed three. \n"All of our defensive goals have come off set pieces," senior goalkeeper Colin Rogers said. "The guys in the back are some of our best players in the air, and they've been playing really aggressive and getting some goals."\nIn 11 games this season, IU has given up four goals, giving them a nation's best .36 goals against average. The closest team to the Hoosiers is University of Alabama-Birmingham who has allowed six goals in 11 games. Three of the four goals scored against the Hoosiers were by Top 10 teams.\nThe anchor of the defense, Rogers, leads the nation in individual gaa average for a goalkeeper. His .40 average ties him for second place on the single season record list.\n"Our defense has been exceptional over the past few games," Yeagley said. "This reminds me a lot of that streak we had in 1998 when we had five straight shutouts on our way to an NCAA championship ... It is good to see other people putting goals in the net."\nHammer said there is plenty of credit to go around for the recent defensive success.\n"A big part of our team is that our defense starts up front with our forwards and then works itself back," Hammer said. "That's the biggest thing that our team focuses on -- a team defense. It's definitely not just the guys in the back, it is our whole team"