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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports men's soccer

Men's soccer team heads to Akron for NCAA tourney

Riding its first winning streak of the season and last weekend’s Big Ten Tournament title win, the IU men’s soccer team will head to Akron, Ohio, Thursday for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Discounted by many after the worst regular season in program history — 11 losses and the Hoosiers’ first-ever losing season — IU hit its stride when it most needed to, churning out wins of 2-1 (OT), 0-0 (5-3 penalty kicks) and 1-0 en route to the conference championship.

IU Coach Todd Yeagley said his team’s attitude after winning four consecutive matches is “very confident,” and his team will be prepared for the pressures of attempting to defend its 2012 NCAA College Cup championship.

“We said it didn’t matter where we go and who we played. We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Yeagley said. “It’s just like last year. When you go on that mentality, you’re in a good place, and this team’s in a good place right now.”

The Hoosiers (8-11-2) will take on No. 7 Akron (16-3-1) in a first-round battle of unseeded teams that have become acquainted with one another during Yeagley’s four-year tenure.

In 2010, the freshman season for IU’s five current seniors, the Zips knocked IU out of the NCAA Tournament with a 2-1 victory in Akron, following that with a 1-0 victory in Notre Dame, Ind., in 2012.

“It’s a great matchup,” Yeagley said. “They like to play. We’re just going to have to be very good defensively. We’ll certainly get our chances, so I like the matchup. These guys that are seniors finished their freshman year there, so I think there’s a little extra there as well.”

The Zips enter the NCAA Tournament as winners of their past six games, having not lost in the 10 matches since their 2-0 loss to Hartwick on Oct. 5.

Akron Coach Jared Embrick’s squad captured the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship with a 4-1 victory against Western Michigan on Nov. 17.

Yeagley said Thursday’s battle, which features winners of two of the last three College Cups, will be fiercely competitive in the NCAA Tournament’s first round.

“It’s a very good team,” Yeagley said. “They were hoping for a seed — Akron — probably were right on the cusp. They’re familiar. It’s a very great atmosphere when it comes to their student body, so it’s going to have a lot of great energy.”

Despite their poor showing in the regular season, the Hoosiers find themselves in position to make a deep run in the tournament.

IU’s five seniors and national championship campaign last year will lend experience to a team that has recently found its form.

Senior midfielder and team co-captain Harrison Petts said the Hoosiers have reverted from their regular season performances and are poised to compete in the NCAA Tournament.

“I think coming into the year we were obviously one of the top teams,” Petts said. “I think a combination of some bad bounces and some poor play in the boxes this year kind of made us fall off the radar, but now that we have it turned around, I wouldn’t bet against us.”

Follow reporter Alden Woods on Twitter @acw9293.

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