Team looks for victories on West Coast

West Coast road trips have not been kind to the IU men's soccer team in recent years. The Hoosiers have taken five road trips west since 1994 and they have compiled just a 5-5 record while their overall record during that span was 153-28-6.\nNo. 1 ranked IU travels to Fullerton, Calif., for the weekend to battle Cal-State Fullerton and No. 17 UC Santa Barbara. The Hoosiers face Fullerton (5-6-2) today at 9 p.m. and IU (12-1-2) will play UCSB (10-1-1) at 6 p.m. on Sunday.\nSenior sweeper Phil Presser acknowledged the Hoosiers lack of success in recent stints to the West Coast, but thinks this squad has what it takes to be victorious.\n"It is real important right now that we do not let down, because we are rated No. 1 in the country again," Presser said. "All the teams in the past have done well in terms of fight, but I think this team has more skill on the team as well as fight. We continue to get better as the season builds in the fight area. There are people on the team that know what we have to do to win these games."\nThe Hoosiers other long road trip this year was to New York and resulted in IU's only loss of the season as they were downed 3-0 by St. John's. Although Fullerton has a losing record, IU coach Jerry Yeagley said the Hoosiers cannot overlook them because in 1994 IU traveled west and Fullerton pulled off an upset.\nYeagley said IU schedules difficult games near the end of the regular season to test their team and to play in a hostile atmosphere.\n"We schedule hard at the end and try to get on the road in a tough environment," Yeagley said. "The wears and tears of travel cause some teams to drop their performance. We schedule on the road in tough situations and find a way to build off the energy of the opponents."\nFullerton is led by junior Hector Orellana with 20 points on eight goals and four assists. Orellana is Fullerton's only scorer in double figures. UCSB poses a much different threat as they have four scorers in double figures and are the nation's second leading scoring team at 3.25 goals per game.\nUCSB's offensive attack has Yeagley concerned and he said the Hoosiers will attempt to keep the ball on the ground to counter the Gauchos height advantage. UCSB's two primary offensive threats, senior Rob Friend and sophomore Drew McAthy are listed at 6-feet, 4-inches and 6-2 respectively. Friend leads the Gauchos with 28 points on 12 goals and four assists and McAthy has 21 points on 10 goals and an assist.\nOn the other side of the ball, IU's three defensive stoppers, Presser, senior John Swann and junior David Prall are all 5-10. Swann is credited as one of the best marking backs in the nation and was named to Soccer America's National Team of the Week for his play in last week's victories over Kentucky and Ohio State.\nAfter the Hoosiers trip to New York in early Sept., Yeagley was unhappy with the team's effort \nand overall performance, but he expects the Hoosiers to be better this time around.\n"After the New York trip, where I felt we showed a bit of immaturity and a lack of confidence, we have seen definite improvement on the road," Yeagley said. "I have not seen this team back down and take a negative stance against anyone on the road."\nIU is currently on an 11-game winning streak, the longest since the 1999 squad had a 12-game winning streak which ended in a 2-0 loss to James Madison in a late season road trip to Florida. The Hoosiers have also regained the top ranking in both the College Soccer News and adidas/NSCAA polls after St. John's, Wake Forest and Stanford all either tied or lost last week.\nJunior midfielder Vijay Dias said it is important for IU to have a good showing in the trip to California to maintain a high ranking.\n"Whenever we play teams out of our region, it is important that we do well to show that we can play with everybody in the country and win," Dias said. "We need to make sure if we get a high seed in the NCAA tournament that we are deserving of it"