Team ready for revenge

The women's soccer team looks to get back to its winning ways after a disappointing road trip to Michigan and Michigan State last week. The Hoosiers entered last weekend ranked 23rd in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, but were outscored 6-3 in the two contests. This weekend, the Hoosiers return to Bill Armstrong Stadium for their first home game since facing Penn State Sept. 30. The team plays Illinois Friday and Iowa Sunday. The Hoosiers enter the game 6-4-1 (3-3-1), and are fourth in the Big Ten.\nHoosier team members said the weekend is very important. \n"We need to win the remainder of our Big Ten games," said sophomore back Carly Everett. "We lost last week because we weren't mentally into the games. We didn't have fun like we usually do. We need to get back out there and play our best." sophomore back Erin Hesselbach agreed with Everett. "These games are very important," Hesselbach said. "If we don't win these two we are in trouble. We need to get our minds back into it."\n Several of the players look to get revenge against Illinois after losing 5-0 in Champaign last season. "It wasn't too fun losing by that much," Everett said. "We need to show them what we are made of this year. Last year we just played a bad game against a good team." \n Freshman back Kara Kornfeld didn't play against Illinois last year, but has heard much about the game. She said the team isn't dwelling on seeking revenge against the Illini any more than the other teams they play.\n"Illinois is just another competitive Big Ten team," Kornfeld said. "It's going to be a tough game, and we need to improve from last week."\nIn addition to trying to avenge a loss to Illinois this weekend, IU looks to defeat an Iowa team that has their number. The Hoosiers are 1-3 all time against the Hawkeyes. They have been outscored \n5-1 in those games. \n"It was a tough loss at Iowa last time" Hesselbach said. "But we have to come out and treat this game just like any other."\nIn order to be successful this week, the Hoosiers need to improve their defense, which has paced the team most of the season so far. The Hoosiers are tied for second in the conference by allowing 15 goals this year, but they allowed six goals last weekend.\n"Defensively we need to work on our positioning," Kornfeld said. "We need to increase our awareness. We worked a lot during practice perfecting minor breakdowns. We had a great week of practice preparing for this game. We are just looking to work on our mistakes and move on from last week" she said.\nSophomore forward Shelly Gruszka said last weekend the team came out flat and needs to come out harder tonight. \n"It wasn't that we didn\'t play hard last weekend" she said. "We had too many small flaws. We have to straighten those mistakes out. It was our first minor step back this season, but we'll be ready this weekend."\nGruszka said she thinks the team needs to have a strong weekend both offensively and defensively to be successful. "The forwards need to step up and take control" she said. "We need to help out the defense. We have counted on them so much this year, and now its our job to add to what they have been doing." \nGruszka is confident the team will be ready after a strong week of practice, and said "I'm very excited for this weekend. The team is ready for it."\nKornfeld said she is also excited for this weekend. "We had a really good week of practice. We need to move forward." \nThis weekend will have a huge impact on the rest of the Hoosiers season. If they are serious about competing for the Big Ten championship, they need to prove it by dominating two very tough teams at home. \n"Every game is the most important for our season," Everett said. "So against Illinois, I guess that is the most important game of the season, until we play Iowa"