The Big Ten conference named senior midfielder Brian Plotkin its offensive player of the week Monday after the Lisle, Ill., native scored in each of the Hoosiers' two weekend games. Plotkin is the first repeat winner of the award this season, first earning the accolade Oct. 5.\nThe Hoosiers' co-captain scored on a 30-yard strike in Friday's win against Wisconsin and tallied IU's lone goal in the 30th minute against Northwestern. The Northwestern goal pushed Plotkin's season total to six, one behind team-leader junior forward Jacob Peterson. Plotkin leads the team in points with 18.\n"Brian is one of the top players in the country," IU head coach Mike Freitag said in a statement. "He played well this weekend. His engine really kept us going in some difficult environments on the road in the Big Ten. We expected a lot out of him as a leader on this team, and he continues to show his experience and talent week in and week out." \nThis is the fourth time this season a Hoosier has warranted Big Ten Player of the Week honors and is the third honor of Plotkin's career.
Road Warriors\nWednesday night, the No. 8 IU men's soccer team will play its first home game in 18 days when it faces off against in-state rival Butler University. Over the weekend, the Hoosiers wrapped up a four-game road trip where they went 3-0-1, including two Big Ten victories. IU is undefeated this season away from Bill Armstrong Stadium with a record of 5-0-2. The Hoosiers still have to travel to South Bend to face Notre Dame and to College Park to play the No. 12 University of Maryland before postseason play beings.\nSuccess on the road is nothing new for the Hoosiers. Since 2000, IU has only lost seven away games including Big Ten and NCAA tournament action. While the team prefers playing in front of the Hoosier faithful, playing on the road is good practice for playing in the NCAA tournament, IU head coach Mike Freitag said.\n"There is a lot of parity in college soccer," Freitag said. "When you play on the road, your opponents give you their best shot and take you out of your comfort zone. It is a good test for us."
When it rains, it pours\nLast season, the Hoosiers depended heavily on their defense to win games since the team averaged only 1.8 goals per game. So far this season, IU has improved its scoring to 2.6 goals per contest. \nNot only have the Hoosiers improved their scoring average, they have shown the ability to score goals in bunches. Already this season, IU has tallied four five-goal games and one four-goal game. The last Hoosier team to score five or more goals in four games was the 1997 squad. That team had five games of five or more goals en route to an undefeated regular season and a berth in the College Cup before losing to eventual champion UCLA.\nLast weekend, Wisconsin became the latest victim of the Hoosier attack when two Peterson goals led IU to a 5-2 victory.\n"We worked a lot on finishing this week," Peterson said. "It was nice to finish more opportunities during the weekend."
Hoosiers move up to second in Big Ten Standings\nIn the 14 years of competition, IU finished out of the top two spots in the Big Ten regular season only once. The 1995 Hoosiers ended the regular season in third place behind Wisconsin and Penn State before going on to win the Big Ten tournament.\nTen days ago, IU was tied for third place in the Big Ten after sputtering out of the gates by tying Michigan State and losing at home to Penn State. More importantly, being tied for third place does not guarantee the Hoosiers a first round bye in the Big Ten tournament. IU has since gone 2-0-1 in conference games and has moved into second place in the standings.\nWith one game remaining on the Big Ten slate, the Hoosiers cannot win the regular season title. However, IU can claim the second seed in the Big Ten tournament by defeating Ohio State or if Michigan State ties or loses one of its two remaining Big Ten games. \n-- Sports Editor Brian Janosch contributed to this report.
