IU to play UNC in 3rd round of NCAA Tournament

Two years ago, the Indiana men’s soccer program met the North Carolina Tar
Heels in the third round of the NCAA tournament, needing a win in Chapel Hill, N.C. to continue the Hoosiers’ tournament run.

But a 1-0 loss derailed IU’s hopes of an eighth star.

This season, after both teams won their second-round matches, they find themselves matched up again, as No. 16 seeded Indiana will travel to Chapel Hill
once again, hoping to revenge their loss and will another step in their way to an eighth national title.

But against the top seed in the tournament – a team with the third-best scoring offense in the country, the road to Hoover, Ala. won’t be easy.

“As we get farther into the tournament, the deeper you go, most games are going to be tight,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “It’s going to be a restart, it’s going to
be a great goal that decides these games, and we can’t give good teams opportunities.”

Throughout the regular season and into postseason play, these opportunities have been what North Carolina relied on to clinch the top seed in the tournament.

As a team, through 22 games, the Tar Heels have scored 52 goals. But on
Sunday, IU got a good test as to what kind of offense they will see in the third round.

The Hoosiers won 3-0 against Old Dominion, a team ranked second in goals per
game, one spot ahead of North Carolina.

Yeagley said that his team’s strong defensive performance in the second round showed what he thinks the key to winning tournament games is.

“It comes down to the small details to make a deep tournament run, “ Yeagley
said. “And our play Sunday showed and reconfirmed what I believe. If you defend
well, you’re going to find a way to get a goal.”

As of late this season, the Hoosier offense has been tougher to defend, with the emergence of sophomore Nikita Kotlov as a potent offensive threat. Kotlov has scored eight goals in his last nine games – including three in IU’s three postseason matches – but what makes IU so hard to defend, Kotlov said, is that
teams can’ just focus on the team’s main three scoring threats – him, freshman Eriq Zavaleta, and senior Alec Purdie.

“I feel like we have so many threats,” Kotlov said. “When Jamie (Vollmer) comes in, he’s really dynamic, and A.J. (Corrado) has that perfect ball where he can put it anywhere. We have so many strengths, and I think we can use that to our advantage.”

The seniors on the team, including senior defender Tommy Meyer, who was on the team when they lost to North Carolina in the NCAA tournament two years prior, know that next Sunday’s game could be their last.

But Meyer said that, as is with every tournament game, he will go into the one at Fetzer Field making sure it won’t be his last collegiate soccer game.

“It’s definitely something we think about, but I’ve been in the tournament the
past three years, and I take every game the same,” Meyer said. “You know it could
possibly be your last, but you go out with the mindset that you’re not going to let it
be your last.”