Indiana women’s soccer head coach Erwin Van Bennekom knew over the summer that his team was capable of doing something big.

“I thought we were going to be pretty special coming from last spring,” Van Bennekom said. “We were bringing everyone back. We brought in some players that I thought were pretty good. Some younger players, some transfers.”

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA postponed the women’s soccer season to the spring. Some players, like midfielder Alaina Kalin,  say they knew it back then. 

“I think after our Penn State game we felt pretty good and confident,” Kalin said. “We were playing really well. I think the score didn’t actually reflect how we played at Penn State. I think we were all super confident and excited to see what we could do in the fall.”

The IU women’s soccer program has played in the shadows of the men’s program for much of its 28-year history. However this year, a wave of momentum has taken this program to new levels. 

The Hoosiers are 9-3-4 on the year and are looking to complete a rare 10-win regular season and hopeful NCAA tournament berth.

That being said, the Hoosiers have set out some goals for themselves. 

“The first one is to win the next game…the second is to get 10 wins because the last time Indiana did that was like 13 years ago” explains Kailin. 

“The third is to make the Big Ten tournament and the fourth is to get hopefully to the semi-finals of the Big Ten Tournament.”

The final goal: 

“We want to make the NCAA Tournament.”

Indiana is well on its way there. Much of that credit goes to Van Bennekom according to Forward Anna Bennett. 

“He is a great coach. He is super smart. He knows when to get on his players.”

Van Bennekom came into the program in 2019 and laid down some lofty goals for his program during an interview in 2019.

“Within the next six years we will win the National Championship.”

It’s a goal that Van Bennekom thinks he is on the way to achieving. 

“I think we are right on track. With all the hurdles we had to go through and all the roster management” explained Van Bennekom.

“Do we want to win two Big Ten titles? Yes. Do we want to be in the NCAA tournament every year? Yes. But all we want to do is keep getting better.”