Postseason mindset begins this weekend

The IU men's soccer team begins its final week before the postseason in an unfamiliar position -- the underdog.\nThe No. 5 Hoosiers travel to College Park, Md., to face No. 3 University of Maryland Saturday night, and welcome No. 1 University of Akron Thursday to wrap up the regular season and prepare for the defense of their national championship.\n"These are good games coming up," IU head coach Mike Freitag said. "Guys come to IU to play tough games and these are tough games. I'm hoping we will do well and that they will prepare us for the (NCAA) tournament."\nEach game gives IU a chance to show the NCAA tournament selection committee it is deserving of a top four seed in the NCAA tournament. The top four seeds in the tournament gain home field advantage until the College Cup in Cary, N.C.\n"These games could give us tons of momentum going into the tournament," sophomore defender Charley Traylor said. "Akron is No. 1 and Maryland is always a top 10 seed in the NCAA tournament. It is really going to help us get positive momentum going into the tournament."\nThree days after Freitag said the team played its best game of the season against Notre Dame, the Hoosiers face their final road contest of the season at Maryland. The Terrapins are one of the hottest teams in the nation as they are currently riding an eight-game winning streak in which they have defeated four ranked opponents.\n"They are an unbelievable team," senior midfielder Mike Ambersley said. "They got a lot of talent all over the field like we do at every position. It's going to be a battle. Last year they did not pressure us like a lot of other teams did. We had a lot of open space in the midfield, so we will look at some tape and figure them out."\nThe Terrapins are led by senior forward and Missouri Athletic Club Herman Award candidate Jason Garey. Garey, a third-team All-American selection last year, leads Maryland with 36 points on 16 goals and four assists on the season. Maryland currently is in first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and with a win in its final conference game of the season, it would clinch the ACC regular season crown. The conference is considered the best in the nation this season -- seven of the nine ACC teams have been ranked at some point during the season.\n"Playing Maryland is just another step we need to take," junior midfielder John Michael Hayden said. "They are a ranked team, so that will be a good challenge. We are looking forward to it."\nWhile the Hoosiers begin to shift their focus from the regular season to the postseason, they are excited to gauge where they stand among the best in college soccer.\n"These games will show us where we are at," Ambersley said. "Playing two of the top three teams in the country is going to be fun ... hopefully we can get the results we want"