Todd Yeagley has his squad rolling. Undefeated in the last eight matches, Indiana has a 6-0-1 record in the month of October. For the Hoosiers, Tuesday night's Big Ten finale against Northwestern has a simple scenario. A win paired with an Ohio State tie or loss would give the Hoosiers at least a share of the Big Ten regular season championship, giving Indiana its second straight.
Viewing the Wildcats
Sitting at 8-6-1 (2-5-1 B1G), Northwestern is looking to make one last push for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament. Sitting at 10th in the standings, the Wildcats have two games left, the other being against Penn State.
After starting the season 4-0, the Wildcats hit a rough patch, losing five out of their next six games. Prior to losing to Ohio State last Friday, the ‘Cats were undefeated in the month of October with wins over Rutgers and Michigan.
Although Indiana has won 10 out of the past 12 matches against Northwestern, the Wildcats came away with a 1-0 win last season in Evanston. In Bloomington, the ‘Cats are 1-19-3 all-time at Bill Armstrong Stadium, with their lone win coming in 2004.
As a team they’ve scored 16 goals on the year, with 12 of them having come from different players. In net for the Wildcats is Rafael Ponce de León. The junior has only allowed 12 goals on 115 shots faced this season.
Hoosiers are hot
Coming off a 2-1 win against No. 15 UCLA last Friday, Indiana’s win streak moved to five games. The win over the Bruins marked the third straight win over a Top 25 team. In the eight-match unbeaten streak, the Hoosiers have scored multiple goals in each game, their longest such stretch since 1997.
Indiana has scored 22 goals over the past eight games for a total of 29 on the season, which ranks second in the Big Ten. Of the goals scored over the stretch, nine have come from a different player. The main contributors over the past three matches have been Quinton Elliot (four G/A), Sam Sarver (four G/A) and Justin Weiss (four goals).
Weiss to face his former team
After three seasons at Northwestern, Weiss, the graduate forward from Syosset, New York, transferred to Indiana. While with the Wildcats, he totaled 18 goals and 10 assists. Tuesday night, he will go head-to-head against his former team.
An absolute home-run get for Todd Yeagley and co. in the portal, Weiss has come to life in the month of October scoring a brace against Michigan, as well as scoring against Penn State and UCLA.
Knowing the emotions of Weiss playing his former squad, Yeagley knows it’s just another opportunity to gain three points.
“Those are his friends and teammates he’ll have forever but for 90 minutes it’s just another team in front of us. That’s the way we have to approach it and the way he has to,” Yeagley stated.
Kick-off is set for 8 p.m. You can watch the match live on the Big Ten Network.
