Up here in chilly lakeside Evanston, in the Big Ten Tourney, the Hoosiers are playing without joy and without fire. Don't get me wrong, they are playing hard, and they seem to have good organization in the backfield, but they don't look like they are having any fun. It's a gray day here (even Lake Michigan is gray), which is the kind of weather that I've always loved, but maybe it, or the time change, has got the IU soccer team down? I don''t know.
I didn't see the first goal, being late to the game, but Michigan State was first to the ball throughout much of the first half, and simply seems to have better combo play in the midfield than the talented Hoosiers. Soffner and Konstanski were doing a good job of not letting things any get worse. Todd Yeagley looked pretty darn glum on the sidelines, too. As the players walked past me into their "locker" (a big heated tent just outside the field) , I wanted to yell "Cheer up!" Here's hoping they re-discover some kind of love for the game at the half.