Team faces IUPUI after 3-win streak

The men's soccer team returns home tonight to battle the IUPUI Jaguars at 7 p.m., at Armstrong Stadium. Playing their third match in a span of six days, the Hoosiers (5-3-4, 3-0-1 Big Ten) will be seeking their fourth victory in a row. The Hoosiers shut out a pair of conference foes on the road last weekend as they defeated Wisconsin and Northwestern by identical 3-0 scores.\nDespite two shutouts over the weekend, IU coach Jerry Yeagley said the Hoosiers must be prepared for a fight.\n"We can't afford not to be ready," Yeagley said. "They will be ready. This match is their NCAA championship. This is the match where they have the chance to be a giant killer." \nIUPUI (1-10-2, 0-2-1), a member of the Mid-Continent Conference, was outlasted by Akron, 1-0 last Friday, a team the Hoosiers fell to earlier this season. The Jaguars lost to Wisconsin, 5-0 in Mid-September on a neutral field, a team IU blanked last Friday. In addition, IUPUI lost to then-No.17 Oakland, 1-0 earlier this year.\nThe Hoosiers have won three consecutive games, and have outscored their opponents 8-1 in those matches.\nYeagley said the experience of half a season is starting to pay dividends for the youth on the squad.\n"We're playing with more confidence," Yeagley said. "Our young players are different. They're playing with more composure. Our depth is getting better, too."\nFreshman defender Julian Dieterle tallied the first goal of his career in the Wisconsin victory. Meanwhile, IU used six substitutes in the Northwestern victory, including three freshmen. \nWhile Yeagley credits the younger players for improving their games, the players said the bad luck doesn't seem to be going the team's way anymore. \nDieterle described not allowing a goal last weekend and the makeup of the season thus far. \n"Honestly, we've been playing good team defense all season," he said. "The bad breaks just seemed to be going our way. Now, I think we're getting luck on our side."\nAn example of the unfortunate luck the Hoosiers have experienced this season was the Penn State match. With the Hoosiers leading 2-0 in the middle of the second half, that game was called after a two-hour severe weather delay. The game was played through 66:30, just three and a half minutes short of a complete game. A full contest is scheduled to be played Nov. 8 in Bloomington. \nBesides the emergence of younger players on the team, junior forward Ned Grabavoy leads the IU offense. The co-captain has scored eight goals this year and has recorded a team-high 20 points. He netted three goals in the team's pair of weekend matches. As a result of his play over the weekend, Grabavoy earned Big Ten Offensive Player-of-the-Week accolades Monday. He shared the award with Michigan junior midfielder Knox Cameron.\nGrabavoy's fellow players praised him for his soccer knowledge.\n"He's got a great soccer mind," Dieterle said. "He's one of those players who has an instinct for the game. He can make things happen on the field. He just has a great sense of the game."\nAt the same time, junior goalkeeper Jay Nolly has been a stalwart on defense. He owns a Big Ten best (all games) goal-against average of 0.76 and has four shutouts this year.\nBecause of his defensive performances over the weekend, Nolly earned Big Ten Defensive Player-of the-Week honors Monday.\nMost importantly, sophomore midfielder Pat Yates said the team is definitely starting to put things together.\n"In the first half of the season we made mistakes and the breaks were going against us," Yates said. "Now hopefully we can avoid those mistakes and continue to get the breaks to go our way."\nIU will be eyeing its first home victory since the season-opener. The Hoosiers last home win came Aug. 29 when they defeated California in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. \nYeagley said the team must focus on the Jaguars and can't look past them.\n"The danger in this game is looking ahead to Ohio State," Yeagley said. "If you look at (IUPUI's) scores, they were in all of their games. I expect it to be like last year when it went to overtime."\n-- Contact staff Writer Zack Eldridge at zeldridg@indiana.edu.