Indiana University Athletics
IU PLAYS HOSTS WISCONSIN AND NORTHWESTERN
10/13/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Game Data: Indiana gets back to Big Ten play this week as they host Wisconsin and Northwestern at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The Wisconsin game is Friday (Oct. 16) at 7:30 p.m. while the Northwestern game is Sunday (Oct. 18) at 2 p.m.
Indiana Head Coach Jerry Yeagley is in his 26th year at Indiana and is the winningest coach in collegiate soccer history. He has a career record of 445-79-37. He has led the Hoosiers to national titles in 1982, 1983 and 1988, 11 Final Four appearances and six Big Ten titles.
Hoosiers In the Polls: This week the Hoosiers are ranked No. 1 in the Soccer America and Soccer News polls. Indiana is No. 2 in the NSCAA and Soccer Times rankings. Indiana remains the top team in the Great Lakes Region. Indiana has been ranked No. 1 six of the seven weeks this season.
Indiana is the Big Ten's Best: Since soccer became a Big Ten sport in 1991, the Hoosiers have been the dominant team in the conference. Indiana is 31-4-2 in league play over the last seven years and has won the league tournament six times.
Korol Wins Big Ten Player of the Week: Aleksey Korol was named the Big Ten's Player of the Week after scoring three goals in the two victories last week. He scored twice in IU's 3-0 victory over Butler and then tallied the game-winner against Evansville in overtime. He is the third IU player to be honored with this award this year as Lazo Alavanja and T.J. Hannig have also been selected.
Series Matchup: Indiana leads the series with Wisconsin 19-3-3 after winning last year's game 4-1 in Madison. Indiana leads the all-time series in Bloomington 10-1-1 and has outscored the Badgers 58-10 over the span of the series. The Hoosiers and Northwestern are meeting for the 14th time and IU leads the series 13-0-0 outscoring the Wildcats 79-5 during the series. IU won last year's game 4-0 in Evanston.
A Look at the Opponents: Wisconsin is 2-11 overall and 0-2 in Big Ten play. Brian Doherty is the team's leading scorer with 8 points. Goalkeeper Tim Caprea's GAA stands at 2.33. Northwestern 6-5-1 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten. Jon Cantwell is the Wildcats top scorer with 5 goals and an assist good for 11 points. Matt Keeler's GAA is 0.95.
Last Week Recap: IU defeated a pair of intrastate rivals in Butler and Evansville. Aleksey Korol scored twice and Ryan Mack added the other goal in the 3-0 victory over Butler. In the Evansville game, Yuri Lavrinenko scored in the 82nd minute before Evansville scored with no time remaining on the clock to tie the game on a disputed goal. Korol ended the game early in overtime as he scored just 4 minutes into the first extra period for the Indiana victory.
A Comparison: Last year the Hoosiers were 12-0 after the first 12 games and this year's team is just off of that pace at 11-1. However, in some areas of play this edition of the Hoosiers is performing, at least statistically, better then last year. After 12 games a year ago the team's GAA was 0.66 and this year it stands at 0.34. The team had 7 shutouts in 1997 but has 9 this year. T.J. Hannig has reduced his GAA from 0.63 to 0.34. Last year's team did score 49 goals in the first 12 games compared to 32 this year and accumulated 136 points to 89 this season. However the shots by IU is almost the same as it had 192 last year and 179 this year.
Tough Defense Earns National Rankings: Indiana has allowed only four goals in 12 games this season and the team GAA stands at a stellar 0.34. This week the Hoosiers are second in the nation, allowing just .32 goals per game. Goalkeeper T.J. Hannig also appears in the NCAA stats as his GAA is second in the nation this week (0.34). This week Indiana is tied for 15th in scoring offense (2.67), 3rd in shutouts per game (.750) and tied for 2nd in winning percentage (.917).
Have to Shut Them Out: If a team is going to beat Indiana they have to shut them out. In Indiana's last seven losses (which dates back to Oct. 13, 1995), the Hoosiers have been shutout each time. The last time Indiana scored at least one goal and lost was Oct. 8, 1995 at Bowling Green (2-1).
Extra Time: Indiana's overtime victory over Evansville was its third such game of the season. However, the Hoosiers are a good overtime team. Over the last 2 1/2 seasons, the Hoosiers have played 11 overtime games and are 8-1-2 in those games. The lone loss in that span was to UCLA in the national semifinals last season.
Big Ten Stat Rankings: Aleksey Korol leads the Big Ten in scoring with 20 points (8 goals and 4 assists) while Dema Kovalenko is second (6-4-16) and Lazo Alavanja third (4-7-15). Alavanja's seven assists leads the league while Korol's, Kovalenko's and Matt Fundenberger's total of 4 is tied for third. Korol's 8 goals is also the top mark in the conference. T.J. Hannig is the top goalkeeper in the league with a 0.34 GAA. He also leads in shutouts with 9. As a team, the Hoosiers lead the league in scoring with 32 goals and with a 0.33 team GAA.
Hoosier News and Notes: Dema Kovalenko enters the week in 10th on IU's all-time goals list. He needs three more to take over 9th place. His 81 career points are 17th on the all-time scoring list. He assisted on the first goal at Evansville and that gives him a career-high 4 this seasonWith 30 career assists, Lazo Alavanja is now 8th on IU's all-time list. He is also 14th on the all-time scoring list, and 15th on the all-time goals listGoalkeeper T.J. Hannig posted his 19th career shutout against Butler. His GAA stands at 0.34 heading into the week. He also has 9 shutouts this season...The Hoosiers have scored 14 first half goals this season while allowing just one in the first 45 minutes. They have out shot their opponents 179 to 75 The Hoosiers enter this weekend's action having won 13 consecutive conference games. That streak includes Big Ten Tournament games. The current conference-game unbeaten streak now stands at 20 games (18-0-2)The Hoosiers have been spreading the scoring punch around this season as eight different players have scored. Last year, 12 different players scored.
Next Up: The Hoosiers play at Kentucky Wednesday (Oct. 21) at 7:30 p.m. ET and then play at Ohio State Sunday (Oct. 25) at 2 p.m. ET.
© Indiana University Athletics, 1998
