Team splits, but misses tourney

Public address announcer Jeff Smith made the declaration with two minutes remaining in Friday night's women's soccer match. At the time, IU trailed Purdue 1-0. A Northwestern win combined with an IU loss on Friday night would mean the Hoosiers would not advance to the Big Ten tournament, Nov. 8-11 at Purdue. \n"We have a score in from Madison," Smith said. "Northwestern has won in overtime 1-0. If this scenario does not change, Indiana will not advance to the Big Ten tournament in Lafayette."\nThe scenario did not change. Purdue held on to beat IU 1-0, sending the Hoosiers to their fifth consecutive conference loss and ruining the team's post-season goals.\n"This is the hardest game to walk off the field with," senior midfielder Kelly Kram said. "I've never wanted to win a game more in my entire life."\nPurdue's Emily Whetter scored the game's only goal when she broke in front of the box, took a pass from sophomore forward Annette Kent and put the ball past sophomore goalkeeper Shaunna Daugherty at the 28:42 mark. The Boilermakers outshot the Hoosiers in the first half.\n"We played hard and we had our chances. It's just unfortunate, they scored a soft goal," coach Joe Kelley said. "I thought either team could have won this game. It's just sad we didn't. It's too bad."\nIn the second half, IU (7-7-1, 3-6-1) turned in another dominating performance, keeping the ball in Purdue's third for most of the half. Again, IU was unable to take advantage of its opportunities and the end result was the team's fifth straight conference loss.\n"I wish I could credit it to something mental or physical, but I think a lot of it was just tough luck, unfortunately," Kelley said of the team's losing streak. "How many times tonight did the ball just bounce around the goal? It just didn't go in."\nKram and the rest of the Hoosiers have become familiar with outplaying their opponents but not walking away with the victory.\n"(The ball) just doesn't want to go in. It is very typical," Kram said. "I would say that Purdue is no better than us, but they walked off the better team."\nEntrenched in battle, the players on the field were unaware they would need a win to save their season. It wasn't until the bitter end the Hoosiers realized a conference appearance wasn't going to happen.\n"Down to 10 seconds left in the game and they had a goal kick, I thought we were going to pull through," junior midfielder Kara Bryan said. "Everything we worked for in the season is really not there. We have so much heart and we worked so hard. It is so disappointing."\nIU 3, Indiana State 0\nSunday, the Hoosiers ended their losing streak by downing Indiana State 3-0. Kram, Bryan and sophomore Kelly Gruszka tallied goals for Indiana as the Hoosiers completely controlled the match. IU outshot the Sycamores 16-1.\n"Indiana State is a young program. We were obviously better than them and that is the way it should be," Kelley said. "I don't think we scored as many goals as we should have but I am proud of our team for their effort today"