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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

women's soccer

Big changes made for 2011-12 season

Women's Soccer vs. Oakland University

Conference play has not been kind to the Hoosiers the past three seasons, as IU has compiled a 7-20-3 record.

The Hoosiers are 7-7 in 1-0 matches. In 2008, IU dropped the first five conference games 1-0.

The 2011-12 Indiana women’s soccer team features eight freshmen, five redshirt freshmen and six sophomores. Coach Mick Lyon said his team’s inexperience provides a chance to work with the younger players’ “clear chalkboards.”

“Having this youth is like, ‘Can you change some things?’” Lyon said. “We’ve been the 1-0 team. We’ve been on the wrong end of 1-0. Just imagine if we could reverse that.”
Last year, IU posted a 2-8 record in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers were outscored 22-9, or 2.2 goals per game. (Offensively, IU averaged 0.9 goals per game.) Lyon said too many of the goals scored on his team were soft.

“Analyzing last season, we gave away too many goals,” he said. “We’re not going to win games if we’re giving up bags of goals.”

In IU’s nine nonconference matches this season, the Hoosiers allowed 12 goals. The defensive play is much improved this season, Lyon said.

Senior goalkeeper Lindsay Campbell’s performances have proven to be a big reason why, he said.

“She has been playing well this whole season,” senior midfielder Devon Beach said. “She’s gained so much confidence. The saves that she’s making have kept us in games.

“I feel so comfortable with her back there. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Offensively, Lyon and his coaching staff implemented a new formation this season. The system is unlike any Lyon said he has utilized in his nine prior seasons at the helm.

The new system allows players such as senior forward Carly Samp and junior forward Orianica Velasquez the freedom in the formations to do what they do best, Lyon said.
“When you got very talented, creative players, you don’t want to put them in a box and tell them to play one way,” he said.

Senior midfielder Kaylin Clow explained how the system is different from in years past. She said they ran a 4-4-2 most of the time last year.

“Our outside midfielders are looking to get higher,” Clow said. “We have one forward instead of two. We have more of a target player that needs to hold the ball for us so we can all get up instead of two players working off each other up top.”

The problem is that it’s harder to get open and find spaces, she said.

But the formations are working really well, and the team is working more on pushing the outside midfielders up, so it’s more of a 4-3-3,” Clow said.

Samp said the outside midfielders are vital to creating chances offensively. With a lone forward up top, sometimes it’s more difficult for that forward to play off the outside midfielders that are supposed to be coming up, she said.

“Having support is completely necessary,” Samp said. “It’s hard for that forward to be by themselves. We need everyone to be in the mix so we can get an attack going. The system has been great for us offensively.”

But even with the formation change and its subsequent results, the game doesn’t change, Clow said.

“We play what we know,” she said. “Do simple, easy things and take it on the field with us. It comes naturally. We don’t try to focus too much on a new formation. We have to do this. We play our game.”

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