With the final weekend of Big Ten competition just around the corner, positioning for the tournament is in full swing.

Some teams are attempting to lock up a spot in the eight-team bracket that takes place in two weeks in West Lafayette, Ind. Other teams that have already clinched a spot, such as No. 13 Michigan (12-4, 7-2 Big Ten) and No. 10 Penn State (13-2-1, 8-1), are fighting for the top seed.

A key matchup in the conference comes on Friday night in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes (7-7-1, 2-6-1) are seeded 10th in the conference, and play host to the eighth-seeded Illini (3-5, 7-8).

Illinois knows that with a win or a tie, it is guaranteed a berth in the Big Ten tournament.

The Illini defeated Indiana this past weekend, 2-1, which enables them to control their own destiny.

Illinois trailed the Hoosiers 1-0 at the half, but were resilient and rebounded in the second half, scoring a pair of goals.

In the 59th minute, the Illini got on the scoreboard when sophomore Tara Hurless was taken down, and Megan Kolze buried the penalty kick to tie the game at one.

A minute later, Hurless was involved in the action again.

This time she was on the scoring end, beating Indiana goalie Kristin Pimlott.

"It was a real important win," Illinois women's soccer coach Janet Rayfield said. "We have been playing good soccer, but were just not getting the result. This time we didn't panic and it paid off."

The Illini have struggled playing on the road this season, posting a 1-7 record with their only win coming against George Mason, 1-0. Illinois is winless in the conference on the road, and will look to change that in Iowa City.

"We're not really worried about our play on the road," Rayfield said. "On paper we would be worried but we need to play good soccer. It's not important where we play but how we play."

Michigan needs win plus help

The Wolverines won their conference game last weekend against Northwestern (4-8-3, 2-6-2), but still remain a full game behind the Nittany Lions.

With a win against intrastate rival Michigan State on Friday and a Penn State loss to Ohio State, the Wolverines will be Co-Big Ten regular season champions.

If this scenario plays itself out, Michigan will be the top-seeded team and the Lions will be second because Michigan owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. Michigan shut out Penn State in Ann Arbor by the score of 4-0 earlier this season.

The win over the Wildcats locked up at worst the second-seed, but Michigan women's soccer coach Debbie Rademacher knew it was a tough game.

"It was a hard-fought game, they [Northwestern] were fighting for their spot in Big Tens," she said.

"We wanted to make sure we finished out our conference schedule in these final games on a strong note."

Third time is a charm

Penn State's Heidi Drummond has been named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this year and for the second consecutive week.

She scored two of the five Penn State goals last weekend and assisted on another one. Both of the goals she scored were game-winning goals.