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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

sports

Xavier ends IU's season in NCAA Tournament

Soccer can be the cruelest of sports.

A team can control the entire match, have one defensive miscue late and lose. That’s exactly what happened Sunday to IU in the rain at Armstong Stadium.

IU lost to Xavier 2-1 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, despite dominating possession the majority of the match.

IU held the ball for most of the first half hour of the match, but Xavier grabbed the first goal on a play that started with a Xavier goal kick.

A Xavier player flicked the goal kick at midfield. IU senior Dylan Lax chose to let the ball roll past him, maybe in part because he thought he had time or because of the slick field conditions.

The speedy freshman Matt Vasquenza saw this and started chasing. He overtook Lax around the edge of the penalty box, took a touch and fired a shot low and across goal towards the far post.

IU's sophomore goalie Collin Webb was able to get his leg on the shot but not enough to divert the flight of the ball away from goal. Just like that, IU found itself down a goal after dominating much of the match.

The rain caused the edges of the field to resemble something more akin to a swamp than a soccer field, making it difficult to create any chances on the wings.

“They were very good at collapsing and making you go wide," IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. That’s where I felt we could have had a few more chances where we attack the outside back and get the ball across the six yard box.”

Attacking from the wings was how IU netted its only goal of the match.

In the 34th minute IU senior Jamie Vollmer possessed the ball to the right side of the box. He lofted a cross over the head of Xavier goalie senior Eric Osswald and into the run of Lillard at the back post.

The 6-foot-4 defender leaped and headed the ball down into the goal to equalize for IU.

The conditions only worsened after halftime as the rain never let up, deteriorating the condition of the field more and more as the match went along.

“In these conditions we knew there was going to be a missed clear or a ball that just didn’t find its way,”  Yeagley said. “That was the play that gave them their second goal in a game that we were completely in control of at that moment.”

It started with a simple long ball down the middle of the field to freshman defender Grant Lillard, one of many in the match. Lillard had time and space so he elected to let the ball bounce a few times before attempting to clear it.

“I tried calling (Derek) Creviston off,” Lillard said. “It’s one of those days where there clearance happens to go right into his back.”

The clearance ricocheted off of Creviston’s back and to the feet of a Xavier attacker. He played a through ball into freshman Matt Vasquenza who was racing towards the box.

Webb looked like he would get to the ball before Vasquenza, but the ball skipped past him on the wet grass. Webb tried reaching backwards to knock the ball out of play and in the process tripped the streaking Vasquenza earning Xavier a penalty.

Senior Will Walker buried the penalty for his seventh goal of the season.

Aside from a brief five minute spell between Xavier’s first goal and IU’s first goal IU seemed to dominate most of the match, yet they are the ones who saw their season end on Sunday, while Xavier advanced to play Creighton in the round of 16.

“(Xavier) had one shot in the second half so it clearly says that we were the aggressor,” Yeagley said. “It just wasn’t meant to be today.”

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