IU battles Badgers for Big Ten title

Forget about coach Hep wanting 50,000 fans at "the Rock." There's another "Hoosier Nation Challenge" this weekend.\nThe No. 20 IU men's soccer team battles Wisconsin at 8 p.m. Friday at Bill Armstrong Stadium, and senior midfielder John Michael Hayden wants 7,000 fans at the game. \n"That'd be nice," he said.\nIf the Hoosiers win, they clinch the Big Ten regular season championship -- something they failed to do last year for the first time in nine years.\n"I'm putting out a request for fans to come out and support, wet or dry," IU coach Mike Freitag said. "Our guys like to come out to great crowds that we've had. It's important for us to get a Big Ten championship."\nJohn Mellencamp will also perform at the soccer game, but not the 50-something rocker. Instead, his 21-year-old nephew, IU's sophomore midfielder bearing the same name, will take the pitch for the Hoosiers.\n"Hopefully he'll produce some pretty music on the field," Freitag said. \nThe Hoosiers and the Badgers enter Friday's game with identical 3-1-1 Big Ten records. Freitag said it's important that IU controls its own destiny. \nThe Big Ten regular season champ also earns a No. 1 seed for the Big Ten Tournament beginning next week. With seven soccer teams in the Big Ten, the No. 1 seed is the only team with a first-round bye. \n"That's one of the biggest things for us because that first-round bye is about as important as it gets for our season," senior midfielder Josh Tudela said. "Playing two games in two days just kills your body. Going out fresh the second game just helps out tremendously."\nFor the Hoosiers to win, they have to find a way to get the ball past Wisconsin goalkeeper Jake Settle, who leads the Big Ten with the fewest goals allowed per game with a 0.74 goals per game average. \nHayden said the Hoosiers need a better offensive attack, and he even shaved his head to try and change his own luck.\nHayden and Tudela will celebrate senior night before the game along with midfielder Kevin Robson and defender Julian Dieterle. Those four players will likely start Friday. Dieterle will probably fill in for junior defender Greg Stevning, who left IU's 4-2 win against Butler Tuesday with a concussion.\nThe four seniors are the last remaining Hoosiers who played on the 2003 national championship team.\n"Coming in we expected regular season Big Ten, Big Ten Championship and then NCAA Championship," Tudela said of this season. "Right now we're definitely heading in the right direction. Every day coming out we're getting better and better, and hopefully we're getting closer to our goals."\nLooking back, Hayden's a little envious of the Hoosier freshmen.\n"I look at those guys, and I wish I was in their position," he said. "They've got another three years after this, whereas I'm off. I'm kind of jealous of them. But I've got two national championships behind my belt and hopefully three this year"