Column: IU men's soccer beating Guadalajara is no small feat

College teams can beat professional teams.

I didn’t believe it until Saturday night when the IU men’s soccer team upset Liga MX juggernaut Chivas de Guadalajara on penalty kicks in an exhibition game.

This win is nothing to write off. A college team beating a pro team of any level is impressive. It takes an extraordinary effort and a mistake-free game to pull off the upset.

I always thought no matter what pro team it is, a college team could never beat them simply because pro teams are a mesh of the best athletes available, and college teams are not.

Take last year’s Kentucky basketball team, for example. Media outlets argued whether the Wildcats could beat the NBA’s Toronto Raptors in a single game.

Realistically, it would be extremely difficult, but IU soccer proved that on any given day, it is possible.

It isn’t like Guadalajara is the Toronto Raptors of Liga MX, either. They have won the most League Championships, with 11 victories, and finished atop the Liga MX standings last year.

Liga MX isn’t just another soccer league. It is the highest-ranked league in Mexico and the 11th-ranked league overall, according to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics.

It was hard to imagine any college team beating them.

Then Guadalajara traveled to Fort Wayne for the Shindigz National Soccer Festival, and IU stretched its imagination.

IU not only beat Guadalajara but consistently played at its level.

Both teams put seven shots on goal and scored once in regulation. Although the second half was all Guadalajara with 12 shots, only three made it to the goal. Senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner was sharp when he needed to be.

The game eventually went to penalty kicks, where Soffner stood tall after his team fell behind 2-1.

He made two huge stops on Guadalajara’s third and fourth attempts before junior midfielder Jacob Bushue ended it on IU’s ?fth shot.

The Hoosiers did not get lucky. They earned this win during a 90-minute span. Upsets like this are usually won from lucky bounces or an off night for the Goliath.

That was not the case. IU hung with them all game and even outplayed Guadalajara for about half the game.

Guadalajara is also a team that plays together on a more consistent basis than IU. With the exception of international tournaments in the summer, Guadalajara plays about 75 percent of the year together.

This win should give IU a giant boost heading into its season opener Friday at Saint Louis when it faces the Billikens in the Saint Louis Tournament.

But what the Hoosiers pulled off Aug. 18 will not be forgotten. They came ready to play and pulled off the upset.

IU’s men’s basketball team might be the next base of an argument as to whether a college team can beat a pro team. But thanks to IU soccer, I now believe anything can happen.

­— zstavis@indiana.edu