Men's soccer team successful at home

The men's soccer team continued its trend of scoreless first halves Thursday, lasting the first 45 minutes without a goal against Louisville.\nBut the Hoosiers did end a trend of waiting until the game's waning minutes to score.\nIU scored twice in a three-minute span midway through the second half to top the Cardinals 2-0 and improve its record to 5-3.\nThe first goal came off the foot of sophomore midfielder Phil Presser.\nPresser collected the ball 25 yards from goal, looked up, and fired a right-footed shot past Louisville back-up goalkeeper Francis Dumont. The goal was Presser's first of the season and his career.\n"It was fun," Presser said. "Actually, before the game, (teammate) Drew (Shinabarger) came up to me and told me I was going to hit the ball with the outside of my right foot and get a goal. It came true.\n"I'm just going to start shooting more, I guess," he said.\nPresser's goal against Dumont came with 21:05 remaining in game. Dumont entered the game with 8:13 left in the first half, when the Cardinals' starting keeper, Jeremy Morales, was red-carded after an intentional handball just outside the penalty area.\nThe card left Louisville a man down and without the only thing keeping IU from leading the game. Morales stopped several Hoosier opportunities before being sent off, including one would-be goal by Presser 17 minutes into the game.\nDumont had no such luck.\nEarly in the second half, Dumont nearly gave the Hoosiers a goal when he failed to clear the ball. His kick was deflected by IU sophomore midfielder Pat Noonan, who slid and redirected the ball toward the far post. A Louisville defender barely saved the ball from going in.\nPresser's goal came 12 minutes after Dumont's mistake, and IU's second goal came less than three minutes later.\nFreshman forward Lucas Christian carried the ball into the box and was taken down by Cardinal defender Adrian Cann. The referee awarded the Hoosiers a penalty kick, which senior striker Matt Fundenberger converted for the goal.\nThe goal was the 28th of Fundenberger's career, tying him for No. 17 all-time at IU. It was his third of the season.\nThe two quick second half goals showed IU wasn't rusty after not touching a ball since Sunday, when the Hoosiers beat Florida International 1-0. Coach Jerry Yeagley gave the team Monday and Tuesday off, and Wednesday's practice was cancelled because of rain.\n"We weren't worried," Presser said. "We thought it was better because our legs were ready to go out after five games in 10 days. Coach wasn't worried at all. I thought it was better for our legs.\n"But of course, you've got to worry about if our minds are on track and everything."\nThe Hoosiers' minds obviously were on track against the Cardinals.\nWhile the Hoosier offense was clicking, the defense gave one of its best performances of the season. Junior defenders Josh Rife and John Swann and freshman David Prall stopped Louisville from mounting much of an attack. Louisville managed only three shots for the game.\nIU also did a better job than usual of starting its attack out of its defensive third, with Rife often playing balls into the midfield to get IU's offense going.\nThe overall performance was one of IU's best of the season from start to finish.\n"It was just more consistent (Thursday)," Rife said. "As a whole, I thought we showed dominance the full 90 (minutes), which we haven't done in a while. We still have some work to do. We can always be a little sharper. We're just hoping to improve every game."\nYeagley is hoping the Hoosiers do so, as well.\n"I don't want to take away from (Louisville's) team because they are good, but I think (Thursday night) our team did grow up some," Yeagley said. "Hopefully, we can continue it. I felt that after Virginia and Maryland, and we all know what happened after that.\n"So we'll have to see if we can stay off that dipping rollercoaster."\nThe next rollercoaster stop is Sunday, when the Hoosiers open Big Ten play at Michigan State.