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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 9 • 42 dangerous team with their defensive prowess. Their 2.91 blocks per set lead the Big Ten due to twin sis- ters Paige and Hannah Tapp, who are second and third, respec- tively, in the category. "We've been working on our shot selection a lot in practice and reading the blocks and seeing what's in front of us," Evans said. "I think our mentality in shot selection will benefit us es- pecially Saturday against the bigger blocks. "I think we learned our lesson against Illinois about how physical the blocks can be around the Big Ten and the country. We've seen the blocks, and I think now we can finally know what to do with those big blocks and how to work around them." j OLYMPIC ATHLETE-OF-THE-WEEK: CALEB KERR C aleb Kerr has battled Achilles' tendinitis and a tender calf for a majority of the sea- son, forcing him to miss significant time in Sep- tember and October. But he pushed himself last week. Kerr had a high anaerobic workout on Tuesday, ran 12 miles Wednesday, practiced full-go Thursday and capped the week as the top point scorer at the Illinois Open Friday. "The fact that he was able to accomplish what he did … it was about going out and competing and getting in that racing environ- ment and testing it, and he did a phenomenal job of that," distance coach Jeff Kent said. Kerr ran a time of 25:32.87, good for third overall but first among attached runners. He finished the race nearly 30 seconds quicker than he did in his only other 8,000-meter race of the season at the Indiana Intercol- legiates, when he finished in 26:01.9. "I had a couple races where I wasn't able to finish this season," Kerr said. "To get in there, get a decent race in, race with my teammates … it was good to get out there and run with the guys you know." Kerr said the injuries forced him to change his racing style and have limited his ability to be as aggressive as he'd like to be. "It's very frustrating, but it's been part of the sport," Kerr said. "These endurance sports … injuries are just something where you have to deal with it. You can't push your body to the limit and always expect it to be able to rebound every single time." Kerr admitted he still isn't 100 percent, but said he's "getting there." His improving health comes at an ideal time as the Boilermakers compete in the Big Ten Championships Sunday and the NCAA Regionals two weekends later. "I think the calf injury has mostly been worked out," Kerr said. "The Achil - les is something I can run through, so I don't think that's going to limit my per- formance at all. It's just something that's kind of annoying during training." A healthy Kerr could be crucial as Purdue searches for depth behind All- American Matt McClintock in its postseason meets. McClintock finished in sixth place in Pre-Nationals on Oct. 18 while the rest of Purdue's unit crossed the fin- ish line 125th, 163rd, 180th, 252nd and 256th. "It's incredibly important for strong performances behind Matt, I'd say even more so than Matt performing well," Kerr said. "If Matt has a bad day, he'll finish fourth or fifth. If one of us has a bad day, we could be towards the back of the field. The main difference in where the team standings is going to lie is going to be our 3, 4, 5 finishers for the team." Kerr is confident he and the Boilermakers are peak- ing heading into this weekend, where they'll aim to build on last season's sixth-place finish. "We're ready to make a statement in the Big Ten," Kerr said. "We're not going in there trying to be a mid- dle-of-the-road team. I think our team has the talent to compete with those conference teams that have been loaded and have the tradition of excellence." — Travis Baugh 2014 SOCCER SCHEDULE Date Opponent Time/Result Aug. 15 at Illinois State (Exhibition) W, 2-0 Aug. 22 MIAMI OHIO* L, 0-1 Aug. 24 OHIO* W, 2-0 Aug. 29 BALL STATE W, 2-0 Aug. 31 SIU EDWARDSVILLE W, 4-1 Sept. 4 at Marshall W, 2-1 Sept. 7 at Youngstown State T, 1-1 Sept. 12 PENN STATE L, 0-1 Sept. 14 OHIO STATE W, 3-1 Sept. 19 at Northwestern W, 2-1(OT) Sept. 21 at Illinois L, 0-3 Sept. 26 MINNESOTA L, 0-1 Sept. 28 WISCONSIN L, 0-1 Oct. 2 at Maryland L, 1-2 Oct. 5 at Rutgers L, 0-4 Oct. 11 MICHIGAN STATE L, 0-2 Oct. 17 at Nebraska L, 0-1 Oct. 19 at Iowa L, 1-3 Oct. 25 INDIANA L, 0-1 Nov. 1 MICHIGAN 7 p.m. * Boilermaker Challenge Cup # Boilermaker Soccer Complex