IU win earns trip back to College Cup

The sign on the door to the locker room of the IU men's soccer team read, "Since when are there hurricanes in OKLAHOMA? Play like a champion today."\nIU more than played like the defending national champions as the team defeated unseeded Tulsa 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament and moves on to the College Cup at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., Friday to face No. 3 seed Maryland.\nIf IU beats the Terrapins, they will face the winner of the UC - Santa Barbara semifinal game.\nAs in the past, IU returns to the College Cup as the team has done every year after winning the national title. The Hoosiers advance to the College Cup for a collegiate record 17th time.\nAfter a scoreless first half, IU coach Mike Freitag said he told his squad they had a great first half and should go out the second half and play the same way.\n"This is an easy team to coach," Freitag said. "They know what it's all about. They're self motivated, they work hard, I just once in a while have to lead them in the right direction. But that's very few and far between."\nIU came out of halftime hot, as junior Jordan Chirico notched the first goal on a one-timer to the near side post off an assist from junior Mike Ambersley in the match's 47th minute. Chirico's goal marked his second goal of the season, and fourth of his career.\nNearly three and a half minutes later, sophomore Josh Tudela found fellow sophomore Jacob Peterson in the box and Peterson scored in the far post for his ninth goal of the season. Peterson also scored the second and subsequent game-winning goal in last season's national championship game versus St. John's.\nPeterson came back again three minutes later as senior Danny O'Rourke pushed the ball through the midfield and passed the ball to Peterson, who was in the front third of the field. Peterson put the shot on the goal from 18 yards out, scoring in similar fashion to his first goal as he added to his team leading 10 goals on the season.\nOften times in matches this season, Peterson found himself facing defenses that focused on him, which did not allow him to create his own moves to score.\n"I think (scoring) really helps us as far as confidence wise for winning," Peterson said. "(The midfielders) were beating people coming through and I think that opened up cause then the backs had to step to them. I credit it to the midfield, beating their players and creating chances for me and (Chirico)."\nThe last time Chirico and Peterson scored a goal in a game came on Oct. 31 against St. Louis when both scored goals in the Hoosiers 2-1 win against the Billikens.\nChirico did not see any type of connection between the two scoring in the same game again, but saw the goals as people stepping up in tournament time.\n"(When) people on the team come out with a lot of energy, it just goes right through the team," Chirico said. "Especially me and Jake; if someone else scores, Peterson is not afraid to step up and just keep it going. He's a natural goal scorer."\nIn his last game at Bill Armstrong Stadium, senior Greg Badger came off the bench and finished the scoring assault on the Golden Hurricanes as he netted the game's last goal in the 67th minute. Badger had the ball on the left side of the 18-yard box and then passed to junior Pat Yates, who had his shot blocked by the Tulsa defense. In Tulsa's failed attempt to clear the ball, the ball spun backward toward the goal and sat on the goal line. Badger ran up and knocked the ball into the goal as Golden Hurricane freshman goalkeeper Dominic Cervi could not recover from the initial attempt for the save.\nBadger's goal is the third of his career at IU.\nSenior goalkeeper Jay Nolly notched his 11th shutout of the season, as Nolly has a clean sheet through the 2004 NCAA Tournament.\nTulsa junior Ryan Pore came into the game as the nation's leading scorer with 22 goals. Prior to the game with IU, Pore appeared in five NCAA Tournament games and scored a goal in each contest. The IU defense held him in check, however, allowing only three shots, none of which were on goal.\n"They didn't really do anything different than what I had seen earlier in the tournament," Pore said. "They play well as a unit and put a lot of pressure on you. I didn't step up to the plate and do what I was supposed to do and score goals."\n"The thing that I am most proud of is the defensive effort," Freitag said. "That's the thing that's going to take us far. I don't know if you realize it or see from where you're at, but some of those guys put some miles on out there. They worked their tails off."\nThe Golden Hurricane blew through the NCAA Tournament, defeating unseeded Michigan State 3-1, then defeating No. 10 seed Penn State 4-3 on penalty kicks. Tulsa defeated Missouri Valley Conference foe Southern Methodist 2-1 in two overtimes to meet the Hoosiers in Bloomington.\nIU and Maryland have met twice in 1999 and 2000. IU won the first contest 1-0 in Bloomington and then beat the Terrapins again the following year, 2-1, in College Park.\nIn a rematch of last season's national semifinal match, Maryland advanced to the College Cup for the third straight season by way of defeating No. 11 seed St. John's 1-0, Saturday, in College Park.\n"(The 4-0 win versus Tulsa) paints a picture for (the team to know what works)," Freitag said. "They know, 'Hey, this is what we did in this game and it was successful. That's what we gotta do next game and next game against a very good Maryland team. But I like what our team is doing right now ... They're feeling pretty good right now."\n-- Contact staff writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.