Despite losing their top scorer from last year, the Hoosiers entered the 2016 season with no shortage of goals in IU’s 4-0 exhibition win against Oakland Thursday night.
In their first home match of the season, the Hoosiers had it going immediately. They were pushing right from the opening kick and got the ball in the back of the net with a 6th-minute goal.
It was Richard Ballard who broke the seal with the curler into the top right corner of the box.
“I was pleased with the performance,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “The goals — we maybe should have had a few more in the first half, but that was my only disappointment. The pressure was very good, and we forced them continuous turnovers, and we were able to start our attack from that, which was an area we focused on.”
Newcomer junior forward Rashad Hyacenth also got into the action with sophomore midfielder Rees Wedderburn when they came on as first-half subs. They connected for a score when Wedderburn feathered the ball into Hyacenth for a 46th-minute goal.
Yeagley said he was very pleased when asked about the connection between Wedderburn and Hyacenth.
“They do connect. There is that soccer passion that they both do come from,” Yeagley said. “Rashad is able to hold things up, and Rees is able to find little seams and he can get balls off of him and then make the next play.”
Hyacenth is a native of Trinidad & Tobago, and Wedderburn is from England with Jamaican roots. The Trinidadian said they definitely do have a connection.
“I can speak to him the way I speak back home,” Hyacenth said. “I speak extremely fast, and he understands because he has a Jamaican background, so we have sort of a Carribean connection, but all these guys are great and take nothing away from them. The build-up play was fantastic with each and every goal.”
Oakland had a tough time keeping IU off the ball as the Hoosiers dominated possession at Jerry Yeagley Field. The Hoosiers out-shot the Golden Grizzlies, 13-3.
The scoring continued in the 63rd minute as senior defender Phil Fives capped off a quality night of action with a shot into the left side of the goal, which had IU well in control with a 3-0 lead. For good measure, fellow defender freshman AJ Palazzolo assisted freshman forward Ian Black on an 88th-minute goal.
Up next is UCLA in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Saturday. The Bruins should bring a bit of a tougher test, junior defender Grant Lillard said.
“They are a very talented side. It’ll be fun,” Lillard said. “It will be a very open game, very talented, very quick. I know a lot of those guys from growing up in Arizona, so it will be good to see them. It will be a great atmosphere and a high intensity game which will be good for our open season against Stanford and Cal.”
