Hoosiers extend unbeaten streak to 6 straight games

A 1-0 victory against Northwestern Saturday night vaulted the IU men's soccer team into first place in the Big Ten.\nWith the three best teams in the Big Ten left on the Hoosiers' schedule, the team will prove if it belongs in the top spot of "one of the best conferences" in the nation.\nNorthwestern coach Tom Lenahan has faced the Hoosiers' remaining conference opponents -- Wisconsin, Penn State and Ohio State -- and he said the cream and crimson are as good as any team in the conference.\n"We've seen the other teams, and IU is a very good team," Lenahan said. "They're finding their way right now. This is their sixth game without losing a game, so they are starting to get their groove going on."\nFreshman midfielder Eric Alexander scored the lone goal for the No. 14 Hoosiers in their victory against Northwestern. The Wildcats gave the Hoosiers all they could handle while IU extended its unbeaten streak to six games.\n"We knew Northwestern has been winning a lot of games, so we knew they would come in and play a tough game," sophomore midfielder John Mellencamp said. "We needed to match their intensity. Some of our touches were off, but we managed to fight through and get the win."\nAfter creating a couple of dangerous chances in the early going, the Hoosiers finally broke through with a goal from Alexander. Senior forward Kevin Robson set up the play by battling the Northwestern defense. Robson played the ball through to Alexander who shot the ball into the upper right corner from 20 yards.\nThe goal was the second in two games for Alexander.\n(Sophomore forward) Kevin Noshcang made a good off-the-ball run to open up a channel for me," Alexander said. "I just ran into the channel, and (Robson) played an almost perfect ball to me, and I just shot it in the corner."\nThe rest of the first half and the first 25 minutes of the second half saw the two teams play pretty evenly. While the Wildcats had better possession, the Hoosiers created better opportunities to score.\nNorthwestern pressured the Hoosier goal as the Wildcats sent more players forward in the final 25 minutes to try to tie the game. The cream and crimson struggled to match the intensity of the Wildcats as the clock wound down.\n"Fitness isn't a problem with this team," Mellencamp said. "We lost a little focus which should never happen, especially now that it's time to prep for the tournament. We held them off well in the box and kept them out of the net."\nDespite a lack of intensity, the Hoosier defense kept the Wildcats from scoring the tying goal.\n"The defense was great," sophomore goalkeeper Chay Cain said. "They really didn't give them any chances. And any chances they did have were from 35 yards out. The defense really locked down and made it happen tonight."\nThe Hoosiers received some bad news as starting freshman defender Ofori Sarkodie left the game with a broken nose. With 10 minutes left in the first half, Sarkodie was hit in the face while in the middle of a pack of players after a corner kick. It is unknown how long -- if at all -- he will be sidelined with the injury.\nEven though the Hoosiers played sloppily at times, Freitag said he will take a conference win any way he can get it.\n"I don't think we played exceptionally well tonight," Freitag said. "I don't think we were sharp, and I keep saying that. It's maybe good or bad news. We are winning and still not playing our best. Hopefully we are saving our best for when it is very important"