Indiana Soccer is known primarily for the success of the men’s program, but this season the women are the bright spot.
The women’s team is currently 10-1-3 (4-1-1 in conference), which is its most wins in a season since 2013 when the team won 15 games and last made it to the NCAA tournament. This impressive season was something the team might have seen coming, but not the rest of the Big Ten.
The Hoosiers were picked to finish 13th out of the 14 women’s soccer teams in the Big Ten Conference, they tied with Illinois for last in the preseason poll.
Part of the reason Indiana has won so many games this season is because of Paige Webber. The graduate forward has 11 goals on the season. If she scores 5 more goals, she will have a new program single season record for goals in a season.
“That would be kind of crazy,” Webber said. “I feel like that’s just a testament to like how good our team is.”
Graduate forward Paige Webber talks about what breaking the single-season player goal-scoring record would mean to her.
The Hoosiers are having a historic season, but they know what it is like to not. In 2022, the team went 3-7-7 and finished in second to last place.
Because of last season, the team is focusing on taking each game one at a time. However, they will not forget what happened on the pitch that season.
“We didn’t really enjoy it. ” Anna Bennett said. “It’s not fun to lose, it’s not fun to tie.”
Senior midfielder Anna Bennett talks about how the team felt coming off of the 2022 season.
The off-season between last season and this year gave them a lot of time to get motivated to have anything better than what happened at Bill Armstrong Stadium in 2022.
A problem that caused so many of the losses and ties in 2022 was the lack of pressure from the Hoosier defense. This fault has now turned into a strength in 2023.
Against the then ranked-18th Northwestern team, one could see how much Indiana’s pressure bothered the Wildcats. It was what gave the Hoosiers the 1-0 win.
Adding these factors to their toolbox has positioned Indiana as the aggressor in each of their games.
“Any interception, any 50-50 ball we win just gives us more energy of like we are winning these balls,” Bennett said.
Indiana has done more than just win balls, they have won ballgames. Another big reason why the team has been successful is because of the energy the bench gives to the players in the game.
Those on the sidelines scream and pump-up the 11 women on the field. Bennett said this helps keep a fire under the players on the field to not give up their fight.
Staying in their fight is part of the three component answer Bennett gave describing what the program is in her eyes. The components are as follows:
“Hard working, we have a lot of fight, and we fight for the whole ninety minutes,” Bennett said.
The last time the Hoosier won over 10 games in a season, they made the NCAA tournament. Therefore, it looks like Indiana might finally bust their long postseason drought.
