Despite a Darren Yeagle goal three minutes into Wednesday night’s game, the visiting Butler Bulldogs’ bite in the second half was too much for No. 14 IU to handle. The Hoosiers were upset 2-1 in double overtime.
“They believed,” IU coach Mike Freitag said. “All credit to them. As I mentioned before the game, they were going to be a tough one.”
“Sometimes the guys feel they can come out and just put on the Indiana jersey and it’s just going to happen for them.”
IU, which finds itself in its first multi-game losing streak of the season, falls to 5-4-1 (1-0 Big Ten) after its loss to unranked Butler and Friday’s loss at UC Santa Barbara.
The Hoosier defense kept Butler in check during the first half, dominating possession and holding the Bulldogs to two shots offensively.
The tides turned at the halftime switch.
Butler produced 11 shots in the second half, including Tyler Pollock’s boot with slightly more than eight minutes left in regulation.
Two overtimes and two Butler shots later, Butler’s Connor Burt ended it with a header off a Boris Gatzky corner kick.
“We have to find ourselves,” Yeagle, a senior forward, said. “We’re not playing Indiana soccer right now. It’s frustrating.”
Yeagle’s goal was his first of the season and first since his freshman year.
Coach Freitag told his players after the game that each one of them should take a long look in the mirror.
“We have to do a little soul-searching,” Freitag said. “You can do a lot of things right, but if you do one or two things wrong, you’ll get punched in the nose. We got bloodied tonight.”
The Hoosiers continue Big Ten play Saturday when they travel to Michigan to take on the Wolverines at 3:30 p.m.
“I’m looking for consistency,” Freitag said. “Guys haven’t been playing consistently to their potential. As a team, everybody’s got to be on the same page.”
