Hoosiers' Will Bruin tricks No. 5 Bruins in Sunday’s blowout

Can Will Bruin count to three in another language?

Who knows.

But he sure knows how to do so in soccer.

The junior forward shot his way to his first collegiate hat trick with seven shots, six on goal.

“It started off with a garbage goal,” Bruin said.

No. 20 IU scored its most goals since its Oct. 19, 2005 victory against Butler in upsetting No. 5 UCLA 5-1. The victory was Todd Yeagley’s first win as head coach in Bloomington.

“It’s tough to say 5-1’s not a statement,” junior forward Alec Purdie said. “I think it is.”

But the weekend wasn’t all celebration.

On Friday, after 90 minutes of quick passes and possession domination and another 10 of conservative play, IU slipped up with four minutes remaining in the second overtime period, losing its season opener at home to California, 2-1.

California’s Davis Paul scored the game-winning goal Friday. After the win, California created a dog-pile celebration. One Bear even hopped on one leg all the way out to the six to join in.

Just beyond the pile stood IU sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner — his wingspan in full stretch.

Soffner was not happy with the goal — not only because it cost his team the game, but also because Soffner believed California was offsides.

He wasn’t alone.

“Three or four of our players thought that both the first ball and the second ball were offsides,” Yeagley said.

But no call was made, and that was the game.

Yeagley, Bruin and Purdie all agreed the team didn’t play as well as their Friday performance, but IU executed better Sunday.

“The scoreboard doesn’t always show the right emphasis, like we controlled the game Friday,” Bruin said. “We just didn’t put our chances away then, but all the goals came today.”

Yeagley, Bruin and Purdie also said the turning point came with senior Andy Adlard’s penalty kick. The kick came 31 seconds after UCLA tied the score 1-1.

“Right when they scored, I was a little disappointed with some of the body language with our team,” Yeagley said. “I saw Will and a few others like ‘Let’s Go.’”

The Hoosiers compiled 22 shots Friday and 13 Sunday. On Sunday, the assists and goals were made mainly by upperclassmen Purdie, Bruin and Adlard.

While the two juniors and senior, respectively, aren’t the three closest friends off the field, they know how to work together during a game.

“We know the runs each other make,” Purdie said. “We know where we like the ball to be. It’s not so much the chemistry off the field, it’s just that we know each other on the field so well.”

The chemistry of the team has also already changed from the 1-1 weekend.

“Everybody’s buying in and believing now,” Bruin said. “We know we had it. We didn’t get the result Friday. We got the result now, so everybody knows what we can do on the field, and we’re going to go on and do it every game here on out.”