IU men’s soccer’s postseason seeding for the Big Ten tournament could have been decided weeks ago, but instead five conference draws for the Hoosiers made it go down to the final day of the regular season to sort out the final standings.
With five minutes remaining in regulation, the Hoosiers were looking at their sixth conference draw and a possible fourth-place finish in the conference. But then senior midfielder Tanner Thompson took over.
The senior made a remarkable individual effort to stop a ball from going across the sideline. He then drove it into the box and rocketed a high shot past the Michigan State keeper to give IU the game winner and lock up the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten tournament.
“It was huge just for the résumé-builder going into the postseason,” Thompson said. “It’s good to have a good win. Michigan State has done well this year, and also just with the Big Ten seeding it’s huge to have that first home game.”
While a win would have secured a spot in the top four of the conference table, the Hoosiers had to rely on other results from around the league Sunday to clinch the No. 2 seed.
Penn State entered the day controlling its own destiny against Northwestern. A win for the Nittany Lions would have given them the No. 2 seed; instead, they faltered against the Wildcats, lost 1-0 and dropped to fifth in the conference.
Wisconsin started the day in fifth place, but a victory against Ohio State and IU’s victory against Michigan State moved Wisconsin up to third in the conference. The Spartans fell to fourth.
With the victory against Michigan State, IU will welcome seventh-place Northwestern next Sunday to Jerry Yeagley Field for the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
The Hoosiers played the Wildcats to a scoreless draw earlier this year Sept. 18. Even though IU outshot Northwestern in that game, 28-3, IU couldn’t find the back of the net.
IU Coach Todd Yeagley said it was really important for his team to pick up the victory on the final day of the regular season in order to have another home game this season.
“Our home has been great to us this year. It was one of the things we wanted to focus on and make it a priority, and I’m so glad the guys were able to do that,” Yeagley said. “It gives our seniors the opportunity to have another home game and really made our NCAA tournament résumé that much better moving forward.”
IU ends its regular season undefeated at home with a record of 6-0-3 for the first time since 2003 when it went on a 16-game win streak to end the year en route to their sixth College Cup.
The win not only gives IU a home game in the first round but also allows the Hoosiers to avoid regular season conference champion Maryland until the championship game if both teams can win the first two matches of the tournament.
The Terrapins are the No. 1 team in the country and played the Hoosiers to a 1-1 draw at Jerry Yeagley Field on Sept. 9.
However, sophomore midfielder Trevor Swartz said he knows he and his teammates can’t overlook any opponents that stand in their way while trying to get to the conference championship game.
“It’s definitely a big win. Playing at home is what we wanted,” Swartz said. “We like playing at home, we like playing in front of our fans so that will be huge. In regards to Maryland, we would love to play them in the final, but we’re just going to take it one game at a time and see what happens.”
