IU faced their toughest test of the exhibition slate against the No. 6 UCLA Bruins in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Saturday night. The No. 13 Hoosiers handled their Pac-12 opponent with a pair of second-half goals and stellar defense to win 2-0.
Although the goals didn’t come for the Hoosiers in the first half, they didn’t give them up either. Senior goalkeeper Colin Webb did his job and kept the Bruins out of the back of the net, making four saves in the contest.
IU got on the board in the second half with contributions from sophomore midfielder Rees Wedderburn and junior forward Rashad Hyacenth, otherwise known as the “Caribbean Connection”.
Wedderburn started with part one of the connection as the sophomore put the Hoosiers up 1-0 with the first goal of the game in the 52nd minute. After his initial shot was saved by the goalkeeper, Weddeburn gathered the rebound and split a pair of Bruin defenders on the goal line from eight feet out.
IU looked for a brace late in the match to put away a formidable UCLA team, and it came via part two of the aforementioned connection.
Hyacenth, the transfer from Belmont, scored his second goal in as many games and buried the Bruins in the 81st minute through an assist from freshman defender Spencer Glass.
Hyacenth is one of a few options at forward for IU Coach Todd Yeagley’s squad going into the regular season, and he will make it hard for his coach to take him out of the lineup if he continues to score goals.
“We’ve been working hard collectively and to do my job as a collective group of guys is a good feeling,” Hyacenth said following the Oakland match. “We have a lot of good strikers, and the competition is high. To get my own goal, it’s fantastic.”
The final exhibition match was a part of the Shindigz National Soccer Festival, which also featured a match between Ohio State and Syracuse.
The Hoosiers have now concluded their exhibition schedule with a 2-1 record that includes wins against UCLA and Oakland and a loss to Loyola University Chicago.
Up next, IU gets their regular season started on Aug. 26 in South Bend, Indiana. They will compete in the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament against the New Mexico Lobos at 5 p.m.
Josh Eastern
