Men's soccer team tops Wildcats

Coach Jerry Yeagley knew before his men's soccer team took the field Sunday that it wasn't ready to play Northwestern.\nThe Hoosiers proved him right just 45 seconds into the game.\nWildcat forward Jun Kim took a cross from midfielder Steven Jedlinski in the game's first minute and headed it past junior goalkeeper Colin Rogers, giving Northwestern the early lead.\nThe Hoosiers responded with three first-half goals and won 4-1, but Yeagley said he wasn't pleased.\n"We could tell during warmups and in the locker room that the guys weren't ready," Yeagley said. "I think some of the players were looking past this and looking at Northwestern's record and waiting for them to self-destruct. I was very disappointed with the lack of intensity and focus that we brought to this game.\n"I'm not making any excuses. We need to learn from this. The sign of a championship-caliber team is one that comes out and takes care of business and is focused and ready to play."\nThe Hoosiers found their focus near the end of the first half, when freshman marking back David Prall tucked a Ryan Mack cross inside the near post.\nMack, a junior forward, collected the ball on the right side, and his cross was deflected by senior forward Matt Fundenberger. Prall collected the ball and scored his third goal of the season at the 11:59 mark.\nSophomore midfielder Pat Noonan gave IU the lead about a minute later.\nSophomore forward Michael Bock carried the ball up the left side and played a ball to Noonan in the penalty area. Noonan beat Northwestern goalkeeper Chris Berlin for the 2-1 lead.\nFundenberger gave IU a 3-1 lead with 1:29 remaining in the first half, when he collected a botched save by Berlin and scored on an open net.\nWith the goal, Fundenberger rose to 13th on IU's all-time goalscoring list. He has scored five goals in the past three games, and the Hoosiers have scored 14 times in that span. Fundenberger credits the success to better possession play.\n"I think the main thing is we're keeping better possession of the ball," he said. "We're playing it around, we're getting the ball wide, we're serving it in. Those things are creating opportunities."\nWith 25 minutes left in the second half, freshman forward Lucas Christian recorded his first career assist, heading the ball to Noonan on the left side. Noonan bent a shot around Berlin and inside the far post for the goal, his seventh of the season.\nDespite his two goals and a three-goal victory, Noonan, like Yeagley, said he didn't think the Hoosiers played well.\n"We're a better team and we showed it later, but at the beginning we played soft," he said. "That kind of stuff can't happen. We didn't come out hard enough and quick enough against a team, and they burnt us in the first minute.\n"Playing 89 minutes isn't going to be enough, even against a team that's not as good as you are."\nThough IU didn't play its best game, it did play well enough to clinch the victory. And a No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.\n"It's crucial for post-season," Yeagley said. "We're the only team in the Big Ten that won't have to play three days, if we should win. We play two, and that's important."