Indiana University Athletics
IU's 1996 Big Ten Championship
11/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 31, 2005
The Hoosiers entered the 1996 Big Ten Tournament as the No. 7 seed after posting a 2-5 conference mark during the regular season. Certainly no one outside the team expected them to get past the first round, let alone defeat three ranked opponents on the way to an improbable championship.
IU would face the No. 2 seed and then-No.12th Penn State Nittany Lions in the quarterfinal. These two matched up for a thriller in Happy Valley just three weeks earlier with the Hoosiers falling, 4-3 in overtime. This contest had no resemblance to that scorefest.
The game was dominated by Penn State in the first half as the Lions blasted five shots, but the Hoosiers held tough and kept them from finding the net. Everything changed as the second half began. The Hoosiers came out fired up to start the second half and put together a quick offensive attack. Just three minutes after intermission, Emily Etzkorn put IU on the board by scoring off her own rebound. The Hoosier defense allowed just one shot the rest of the way and held on for the 1-0 victory.
The Hoosiers' semifinal matchup came against No. 6 seed and then-No. 28th Northwestern. The two teams met almost a month earlier at Bill Armstrong Stadium, where the Wildcats handed IU a 3-1 loss. This time the Hoosiers would have a two goal advantage at the final horn.
IU made a statement at the start of the contest that proved the Penn State triumph was not a fluke. In the fifth minute, Kris Fosdick drilled a shot from 20 yards out into the upper right corner to give IU a 1-0 lead. Then in the 36th minute, Carrie Watts served a corner to Etzkorn, who headed in the shot for her second goal of the tournament. The Hoosiers continued to dominate and held Northwestern at bay for the 2-0 victory. The Wildcats managed just three shots in the contest and never really put together a solid threat. Fosdick led the offense with five shots and Merit Elzey recorded her second consecutive shutout as IU advanced to the championship game.
The road to the championship didn't get any easier. IU would face the top seed, No. 10 Wisconsin, in the final. Their first meeting of the year was even in every category but goals. The Badgers scored twice late in the first half and cruised to a 3-0 victory. Again, the Hoosiers would avenge a regular-season loss.
IU started slow, getting out-shot, 6-2, in the scoreless first half. The teams had to battle each other and the weather throughout the first half, as a snowstorm hit Columbus just after the game began. As the storm let up, the Hoosiers stepped up. Just as in the Penn State game, IU came out of the locker room on a mission. In the 52nd minute, IU senior Quincy Wolkowitz served a perfect corner to Abby Ryan, who chipped it in from three yards out. Wisconsin fired eight more desperation shots, but Elzey kept them out with seven saves on the day to record her third shutout in as many games. The 1-0 win gave IU its first Big Ten Tournament championship and its first trip to the NCAA Tournament by earning the conference's automatic berth. The Hoosiers also jumped to No. 17 in the NSCAA rankings, which was the highest to that point in the program's brief history.
