Indiana University Athletics
IU Will Be Tested By Nation’s Best This Weekend
8/20/2015 12:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Indiana won't need to wait long to see how it stacks up against the best teams in the nation.
Three 2014 NCAA Tournament qualifiers—No. 13 Virginia Tech, SIUE and No. 12 West Virginia—will join the Hoosiers at Bill Armstrong Stadium to compete in this weekend's 2015 Hoosier Classic.
Indiana will kick off the season against Virginia Tech Friday at 7 p.m. and play SIUE in the second matchup of the weekend at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
The quality of opening week competition is the strongest Indiana has faced during head coach Amy Berbary's tenure in Bloomington and arguably the strongest in the last decade. That was by design, Berbary said, because she wants the Hoosiers to know exactly where they stand.
"I think playing this really, really competitive competition is going to help us grow as a program," Berbary said. "If we want to compete in our conference, we have to see these high caliber teams early on to help us prepare for the Big Ten season."
The start of a new season has been a longtime coming for an Indiana team that says it has been training for 2015 since last Halloween.
The Hoosiers faced true competition for the first time last Sunday in a 1-0 exhibition loss to Louisville. Berbary said the preseason match was a good tune-up game, and that she liked a majority of what she saw.
Sophomore forward Kayla Smith said she could already sense improvement from last season, especially in terms of team chemistry.
"I definitely think there's more of a flow between all of us now than there was at this point last year," Smith said. "That was something we talked about all offseason. The preseason really helped us all get on the same page."
One of the other major talking points of the offseason was performing better in close games, which was at times Indiana's Achilles' heel last season.
The Hoosiers were 2-5 in Big Ten games decided by one goal last season and played to one scoreless tie. In four conference games that went to overtime, Indiana went 1-2-1.
Picking up points in close contests has been a point of emphasis this season, redshirt junior defender Marissa Borschke said. Against quality opponents like the Hoosiers will see this weekend, every break and every chance to score a point counts.
"Every game matters. We found that out the hard way when some of those 1-0 games come to bite you in the end," Borschke said. "Any chance to come out with points can make a huge difference to qualify for the Big Ten's or the NCAA's."
Borschke said the Hoosiers have stressed the small details throughout the offseason and into camp. Any play on any part of the field has the potential to change the outcome of a game.
"These close games all come down to the smallest details," she said. "Should I have tackled that harder? Should I have gotten the extra touch in? Should I have shot it the first time? Those things change results. We don't want to look back and say, 'Oh, well we were close.'"
Borschke and her Indiana teammates won't have to wait much longer to see if their work paid off.
With some of the nation's best soccer programs on the way, the Hoosiers will get a chance to see just how much better they got during the offseason right away.
"We've been really chomping at the bit to get out there," Smith said. "A win or a draw against Virginia Tech would be a huge start for us and would boost our confidence and positivity. We've got to start there and move on to the next one."
