Hoosiers drop pair of preseason contests versus Duke, Xavier at Shindigz Festival

After two exhibition games with moments of poor communication, near misses and tough goals, the IU men’s soccer team left the Shindigz National Soccer Festival in Fort Wayne, Ind., with only one goal and zero wins for their preseason slate.

In front of more than 3,000 fans at the Hefner Fields Complex, the No. 17 ranked Hoosiers played to a 1-1 tie against No. 23 ranked Duke Friday night.

The match marked the first time IU has faced a ranked opponent since losing to eventual NCAA champion Akron in the second round of the NCAA tournament last
season.

IU coach Todd Yeagley took his team into halftime of the Blue Devil game with a 1-0 lead after sophomore midfielder Harrison Petts connected on the second of his two shots in the 34th minute. Petts got the ball off a pass from senior Chris Estridge, who brought the ball up the left side before hitting Petts in the middle where he hammered it home.

In the second half, the Hoosiers struggled as Duke gained more momentum on offense, firing more shots at freshman goalkeeper Michael Soderlund in his first game for the cream and crimson.

After a punch save early on, Soderlund let one through in the 59th minute when Duke tied the game on a shot from junior Andrew Wenger.

Indiana failed to capitalize on a late Duke mistake after a Blue Devil was called for a handball in the box. Senior Alec Purdie took the penalty kick attempt, but Duke junior goalkeeper James Belshaw came up with the save.

In the Hoosiers’ second game of the festival, the team got off to a slow start offensively and struggled to communicate.

“We’ve just got to get more chemistry out there,” Yeagley said. “We played an excellent team in Xavier. They were well-organized, and they had a better rhythm than we did. We’ll go back and look at our video and work on our mistakes, but you have to make those along the way to improve.”

Yet after one half, Yeagley’s crew sat even with Xavier, 0-0, and showed more promise as the second half opened up. The team had opportunities on three early corner kicks, with the third from junior Joe Tolen nearly finding the net.

Soderlund, who played the first 69 minutes in goal, showed more fire in the second half as well when he came outside the box to make a play on the ball as Xavier junior Luke Spencer closed in on the Hoosier goal.

The two got tangled up in the 59th minute, and Spencer fell hard, resulting in a yellow card for the freshman goalkeeper.

But 20 minutes later, in the 79th minute, Xavier sought revenge against senior
goalkeeper Nate Mitchell. Xavier freshman Darin Kruzich sent a long cross from the left side in front of IU’s goal, and the ball sailed into the net off Mitchell.

IU failed to equalize Kruzich’s goal, losing the game 1-0 and leaving their preseason win column blank.

Yeagley and his team begin their 2011 regular season campaign Saturday when Indiana heads to South Bend, Ind., to take on No. 12 ranked Notre Dame.

They will try to avenge the team’s 2-1 defeat to the Fighting Irish last season in Bloomington.