Indiana University Athletics
HOOSIERS HOST OHIO STATE
10/20/1997 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
HOOSIERS HOST OHIO STATE
Game to decide Big Ten regular season champion
GAME DATA: The Indiana soccer team (15-0-0) returns home this week to host the Big Ten's only other undefeated team. Ohio State is 3-0-1 in conference action while the Hoosiers are a perfect 4-0. The winner of Sunday's match will earn the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which will be held November 14-16 in Bloomington. Sunday's match will begin at 2 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the Indiana campus. If the Hoosiers win, it will also tie them with the best start in school history set in 1978, when the Hoosiers began the season 16-0.
THE SERIES: The Hoosiers have never lost to Ohio State, as they hold a 21-0 advantage over the Buckeyes. Indiana is 8-0 against OSU in games played at Bill Armstrong Stadium, and 6-0 since the inception of Big Ten conference play in 1991. Last season, IU defeated the Buckeyes in Columbus, 1-0 as Caleb Porter scored the games lone goal eight minutes into the game.
THE WEEK IN REVIEW: The Hoosiers continued their Big Ten dominance, knocking off Wisconsin, 4-1 and Northwestern, 4-0. In Madison, the Hoosiers fell behind early, but came back with four unanswered goals by Yuri Lavrinenko, Aleksey Korol, Dema Kovalenko and Lazo Alavanja. IU jumped all over the Wildcats for four goals in the first 27 minutes of the game, before pulling all but one of their starters. Indiana outshot Northwestern 17-5 and Wisconsin 19-5, and have nearly tripled their opponents shots this season (243-82).
HOOSIERS RANKED NO. 1: Indiana is the No. 1 team in the nation this week according to all three national polls. The Hoosiers have been No. 1 for the last seven weeks in at least one poll and the consensus No. 1 team in the nation over the last six weeks.
HOOSIERS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: A number of Hoosiers appear in this week's national individual rankings. Dema Kovalenko is tied for fifth in the nation in goals with 16 and is seventh in points with 35. However, he is the top player in both of those categories of players who play on a Top 25 team. T.J. Hannig is 10th in goals against average at 0.66 while Yuri Lavrinenko is tied for 12th with nine assists.
INDIANA HEAD COACH JERRY YEAGLEY: The Indiana mentor is in his 25th year at the helm of the Hoosiers. He has a career record of 426-77-37. He has led the Hoosiers to national titles in 1982, 1983 and 1988, 10 Final Four appearances and five Big Ten titles.
ALAVANJA'S ALIVE: After scoring in the Hoosiers' first three games, Lazo Alavanja had been silenced for 10 straight games. But the junior midfielder awakened against Northwestern and Wisconsin, scoring a goal and an assist in each of the games to give him 18 points on the season. Alavanja, a finalist for the MAC Collegiate Player of the Year award, is second on the Hoosiers with eight assists.
KOROL ON A ROLL: Sophomore Aleksey Korol has tripled his goal output over the past five games, scoring six goals including both game-winners last week. Korol is now tied for second on the Hoosiers with 23 points, nine goals and 42 shots. He has set career-bests in goals, points, and shots, and is two assists short of last season's total of eight. He has started every game since coming to IU last season.
ALUMNI GAME TIME AND DATE CHANGE: The annual Alumni game, originally scheduled for Sunday, November 9, has been changed to Saturday, November 8 at 7 p.m.
HITTING THE BOOKS: Two Hoosiers jumped into the Hoosier record book this week as Dema Kovalenko and Lazo Alavanja each hit the Top 20 in either points or goals. Alavanja's 18 points this season give him 60 for his career, good for 20th all-time. Kovalenko has 57 points overall, and is tied for 21st all-time. Kovalenko has scored 16 goals this season, giving him 26 for his career (16th all-time). Alavanja scored his 20th career goal against Northwestern and needs one more goal to crack the Top 20.
BIG TEN'S BEST: This season marks the seventh year of Big Ten soccer and the Hoosiers have been the class of the league in the previous six years. IU is 28-6-2 in Big Ten competition and has won or shared five of the six conference titles. Indiana is 4-0 in the Big Ten this season.
INDIANA NOTEBOOK: The Hoosiers have scored 59 goals this season, one more than last season's total of 58; IU is just one point short of last season's total of 164; With at least four games left this season, IU is on track to score 80 goals for just the sixth time in school history; Indiana could have as many as 10 games left, giving them a projected goal total of 98, four more than the school record of 94, set in 1976; Dema Kovalenko set a career high with his third assist against Northwestern; Kovalenko had a season-high eight shots against Wisconsin, the most by a Hoosier since Aleksey Korol's eight shots against Marquette last season; Chris Klein set a new career high with his seventh assist against Wisconsin ; The Hoosiers have outscored their opponents 59-10 so far this season; Caleb Porter received his fifth yellow card of the season against Northwestern, forcing him to sit out the contest against Ohio StateI; opponents have received 37 yellow cards this season, while IU has just 18.
NEXT UP: The Hoosiers travel to California next weekend to conclude the
regular season at the adidas-Foot Locker California Classic. IU plays
Stanford Friday (Oct. 31) at 5 p.m. on the campus of USF. They then
plays California Sunday (October 2) at 3 p.m. at Cal's Memorial Stadium.
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