Men's soccer falls 2-1 at Akron in NCAA Tournament

AKRON, Ohio — It was a glimpse of IU soccer past, an IU soccer of excellence.

An IU soccer that wouldn’t settle for early exits from the season-ending tournament. It was a team a fan could believe to win, even if the opponent was the No. 3 seed.

But in reality, it was merely a glimpse at those seven five-pointed stars.

At the end of the 90 minutes in Akron, Ohio on Sunday, the Hoosiers lost 2-1 to the Zips, ending first-year coach Todd Yeagley’s and IU’s postseason run in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The loss was their second to Akron in many years.

It was also a glimpse of games this season past.

Little slip-ups here and there. Soft goals. A small letdown of IU’s guard.

They happened against Butler, Penn State and even Northwestern in IU’s 2010 campaign. In every postgame talk, they were said to be worked on and changed. They wouldn’t appear in the postseason.

But they did.

“They’re a very solid team all-around, offensively and defensively, and they stuck to their game plan,” junior forward Will Bruin said.

After 52 minutes of sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner’s spectacular saves — by far some of his best grabs of the season — the IU defense could hold on no longer.

The first Akron goal was shot off a quick give-and-go from midfielder Michael Nanchoff with an assist by forward Darren Mattocks.

Just more than a minute later, Mattocks didn’t bother to knock on the Hoosiers’ door, stealing a backwards pass from Soffner.

The 6-foot-4-inch frame of Soffner just couldn’t stretch the extra inches to block the kick. Mattocks stuffed Akron’s last goal into the bottom right of the net.

“Luis was in a lot of good spots,” Yeagley said. “His air presence, the corners that they had, he plucked them out. He had a very solid game. Unfortunately, one play when you’re a back or a goalkeeper can often be what everyone remembers.”

It wasn’t that the 10-8-2 Hoosiers couldn’t keep up with the 20-1-1 Zips. They just couldn’t keep up for as long. While play in the first half looked like neither team was willing to give up an inch either way on the field, the second half was mainly played with IU defending its goal.

“You have your moments in soccer where you’re controlling the game, and it switches and the other team is controlling the game,” senior midfielder Andy Adlard said. “It’s how well you recover from those moments. And they had a good spell for 12 to 15 minutes where they got a couple of goals. We were a bit unorganized, but if we could have weathered that storm a little better, might have been a different game.”

Akron coach Caleb Porter, a former IU player and assistant coach, took what he learned from Jerry Yeagley and applied it to his program.

Now, it’s Todd Yeagley’s turn.

This loss could be the first step to bringing back IU soccer to what it once was.

“It looked like IU soccer of the past and their mentality,” Porter said. “I know their future is bright with Todd at the helm. I know a lot of alums are very happy with the direction of the program.”