Hurricane Ivan threatens Hoosiers

If Hurricane Ivan stays away, as the IU women's soccer team hopes it does, the team will have a chance to rebound from its loss to Ball State University when it travels to Coral Gables, Fla., this weekend for the Miami Invitational.\nSenior Kim Grodek said last weekend's loss was tough but it also was a learning experience for the team and an opportunity to see where the team still needs work.\n"Basically (Ball State) was a rough loss the other day, and we realize that, and we're just trying to learn from everything we did last week, and we just need to finish," Grodek said. "Everything is just going to come together. I mean all we can do is just keep talking, keep pushing the girls, keep working and keep letting them know that it's going to come." \nThe Hoosiers will take on Florida International University at noon today and are scheduled to play nationally ranked Auburn University at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, as long as Hurricane Ivan stays out of town.\nCurrently, the FIU game is the main focus this weekend, IU coach Mick Lyon said. He said he doesn't plan to change anything the team has worked on the past few weeks, but he does have a game plan in mind.\n"(FIU is) a team that's had mixed success in the past, and I think they're a team, from what I've heard, if we really attack them and be very, very aggressive, then we'll have good success," Lyon said. "We're really going to pressure them to force turnovers and force them to play a little faster than I think they are capable of."\nThis will be the third meeting between IU and FIU, with the Hoosiers posting a perfect 2-0 record. The Golden Panthers are 1-3 so far this season, but their losses have come at the hands of No. 12 University of Florida, No. 13 University of Texas and in-state rival University of Central Florida before the Panthers broke in to the win column against Texas State University.\nIf all goes well, IU will play the nationally ranked Auburn Tigers Sunday in the teams' first ever meeting. The Tigers are ranked No. 18 by Soccer Buzz magazine, No. 24 by the National Soccer Coaches' Association of America, fifth in the Southeast region and are currently 4-0 this season. \nJunior goalkeeper Lauren Fabbro said preventing team breakdowns and keeping the defense communicating are keys to being successful this weekend.\n"The Ball State game was just a complete breakdown from the forwards all the way through the midfield and into the backs and myself included," Fabbro said. "So we just need to make sure that if there is a breakdown at one point that we either make sure everyone else corrects the problem immediately or finds a way to sort it out." \n-- Contact staff writer John Fischer at jbfisch@indiana.edu.