Hoosiers score twice in win over Purple Aces

It was a brisk and windy evening at Bill Armstrong Stadium, but the Hoosiers were hot.\nComing off a frustrating 0-0 tie versus Ohio State on Sunday, IU came out with a vengeance against the Evansville Purple Aces, defeating them in a close 2-1 game. The Hoosiers totaled a whopping 21 shots to the Purple Aces’ 13. \nEvansville started off the game looking rushed and nervous, but it was the Hoosiers who saw themselves being outplayed in the first half. IU appeared flustered with several bad touches resulting in turnovers. The Hoosiers also saw several turnovers because of offsides calls, two of which came at critical scoring opportunities. \nDespite some of the miscues, the Hoosiers had their first opportunity for a goal with less than six minutes ticked off the clock. An Evansville foul awarded IU a free kick, and freshman forward Daniel Kelly took the ball to the top of the 18-yard box before firing off a laser toward the goal. The Evansville goalkeeper Alec Dufty blocked the ball, but junior forward Kevin Noschang corralled the rebound and let off another shot which Dufty knocked away in a spectacular one-armed save. \nEvansville was the first team on the scoreboard with a little more than 23 minutes remaining in the half. The Purple Aces’ Stephan Minyono passed the ball into Cory Elenio who worked the middle of the box. Carmel native and 2006-07 Gatorade Indiana Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year Robbie Lynch knocked the ball low and just to the lower right of the goal past goalkeeper Chay Cain. \nAlmost 21 minutes later, the Hoosiers answered with a powerful goal off the foot of junior midfielder Brad Ring. The ball crossed into the box from the corner and – although it looked as it would easily be cleared by the Evansville defenders – Ring broke through the line to nail the ball into the back of the net at point-blank range. \n“I was really just trying to get it on frame,” Ring said. “I ended up hitting it harder than I hoped to.” \nBoth teams came into the second half fired up and looking for the winning goal, but it was the Hoosiers who capitalized. With 22:14 left in the game, freshman Rich Balchan took the ball up the middle and attempted to shake an Evansville defender. It was nearly taken away, but managed to bounce back into Balchan’s \npossession and in a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, Balchan knocked it into the lower right side for his third goal of the season and first game-winner. \n“I’m always just trying to look ahead,” Balchan said. “I saw their defender was taking too much time with the ball and our guy got a toe on it. I’m always just looking for scrappy plays, so I just burst through and got my foot on it and put it in.” \nDespite the win, IU coach Mike Freitag was frustrated with his team’s play. \n“We’re not playing well,” Freitag said. “We didn’t play well tonight. I want us to play to our potential. We’re far from potential.” \nAlthough he was disappointed in his team’s showing, Freitag has confidence his team will come ready to play in their next match Sunday versus Penn State.\n“I know the boys will bounce back,” Freitag said.