IU searches for momentum after loss

Following its 1-0 loss last Sunday to Northwestern, the IU women's soccer team was down but not out.\n"Everyone's working pretty hard and trying to get back," freshman midfielder Christie Kotynski said. "We know we probably could have done better on Sunday. We're trying to work as hard as we can to make up for it this weekend."\nWhile the loss ended the Hoosiers 13-game unbeaten streak -- one short of the school record -- IU coach Mick Lyon said he hopes his players are able to take the loss as motivation for the final three regular season games and into the postseason tournament.\n"That's certainly how the coaches are taking it," Lyon said. "To say we want to start a new unbeaten streak and certainly taking care of the next three games is a priority. We want to go 3-0. If we go 6-0 into postseason play then we'd be extremely happy."\nIU (9-3-4, 5-1-1 Big Ten) looks to start a new streak Friday night in Iowa City as the Hoosiers take on Iowa (5-10-1, 0-7-0 Big Ten) and face off against Illinois (9-6-0, 5-2 Big Ten) Sunday in Champaign. Even though the Hawkeyes haven't won a Big Ten game so far this season, Lyon knows the Hoosiers can't overlook them.\n"I know what we're going to get from it, which is a real tight defense probably playing in a 5-4-1 or a 4-5-1 and looking to counterattack," Lyon said. "We'll have to talk to the girls about being organized while we attack and taking the chances that come."\nJunior defender Jenna Babcock said that while the team's last loss is pushing the Hoosiers to do well this weekend, she feels there is a bigger prize at stake.\n"It's more of a motivation for a Big Ten championship," Babcock said. "We need these games now. We put ourselves in a position where we have to win."\nThe Hoosiers still control their own destiny as they are in second place in the Big Ten with 16 points. Penn State leads the Big Ten with 19 points but plays its final two Big Ten games this weekend and can only get six points. If the Hoosiers can get three points out of a win in each of their last three games, they will be assured no less than a tie with the Nittany Lions -- who gave Hoosiers one point from a 0-0 tie -- for the Big Ten regular season championship.\n"That pushes us," Babcock said. "We know we can win it, and we know how to. We just need to do it."\nBut the road won't be easy for the Hoosiers. After their game against Iowa, the last two games in the Hoosiers' regular season will be against Illinois and Purdue, both school that are tied for third place in the Big Ten with 15 points, just one point behind the Hoosiers.\n"That's something we haven't spoken to them yet about," Lyon said about the team controlling where they finish. "But we're going to take it into the weekend and talk about fact that destiny's in your own hands, so either step up or get your just desserts."\nThe Hoosiers haven't beaten the Illini since 1998, but they have come close in recent years. Since Lyon arrived as the Hoosiers' coach in 2002, IU has not lost to Illinois by more than one goal.\n"We lost by a real unfortunate goal last year," Lyon said. "The year before we tied them, so I feel very confident. I think we match up well with them. We got players in the right places to match up against their strengths, and I think it'll be a cracking game on Sunday, no doubt about it"