IU offense shines in victory

As members of the IU women's soccer team huddled together after their game Saturday, fireworks from nearby Memorial Stadium shot up in the air above them.\nMost of the 209 people at Bill Armstrong Stadium that night would have thought the fireworks were to celebrate a win for the IU football team. IU women's soccer coach Mick Lyon was not one of them.\n"Those fireworks are for you," Lyon told his team.\nAnd they might as well have been. In just 90 minutes of play, the Hoosiers tripled their goal count on the season with a 4-0 win against Texas Tech University.\n"It makes you very happy," Lyon said of the team's performance, "because those are the things we're working very hard at in training and that's what we've been talking about for the last week."\nThe win against the Red Raiders, coupled with a 1-1 tie against Baylor University Friday night in Indianapolis, gave the Hoosiers a 1-0-1 record in the Big Ten-Big 12 Challenge over the weekend and improved their overall record to 1-2-1.\n"We really didn't change anything with personnel or the team shape," Lyon said about adjustments between the Baylor and Texas Tech games. "The only thing we addressed, the same thing we addressed in Wisconsin, (was) converting chances into goals. That's all we've been focused on all week."\nThe payoff for the Hoosiers started nearly 13 minutes into the first half when a cross by senior forward Carrie DeFreece bounced off a Texas Tech defender right into the feet of junior midfielder Lindsay McCarthy, who shot the ball into an open net.\n"Even when you have all the pressure and a couple of chances, you got to get that first one because it makes everyone relaxed," Lyon said. "So super for (McCarthy), and actually she's had a fantastic weekend."\nFrom that point on, the Hoosiers seemingly scored at will. Toward the end of the 23rd minute of the game -- following a Texas Tech foul -- senior defender Lauren Lamping lined up to take a penalty shot 30 yards from the goal. Lamping lifted the shot over Red Raiders goaltender Tina Rincon into the top left corner of the net, giving the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead.\n"A lot of it was luck," Lamping said. "I saw the far post was open so I kind of aimed for that, and it went in."\nThe Hoosiers onslaught continued in the 35th minute of the game when junior forward Kristin Radcliffe scored her second goal of the season off an assist by senior forward Megan Pipkens to give IU a 3-0 lead going into halftime. Halftime did not slow the Hoosiers down as junior midfielder and Bloomington native Katy Stewart headed a corner kick by Lamping off the top crossbar and into the net for the final goal of the game.\n"This was our first win," McCarthy said. "So it was good for the season to keep our head up, to go in next weekend and know that we won 4-0 and had different people scoring and different people assisting."\nFrom there the Hoosiers rode on the back of junior goalkeeper Stacey Van Boxmeer, who had four saves in the game to secure her first shutout of the season.\n"That was the focus at halftime," Lyon said. "I told them Stacey Van Boxmeer deserves a shutout because she's played three great games of soccer. ... She's made multiple saves and they still put it in, so I told them, 'She deserves a shutout, and you need to work extra hard for her,' and they did."\nThe Hoosiers return to play at 7:30 p.m. Friday when they host Northern Arizona University at the Hoosier Classic in Bloomington.