IU Coach Todd Yeagley hasn’t told his team IU hasn’t scored against Penn State in 290 minutes because it’s not important to him, he said ahead of IU’s Big Ten opener Sunday at Penn State.
“The guys really aren’t thinking about it,” Yeagley said. “There’s a little bitterness in their mouth. We don’t really have to hammer that into them, and they just kind of feel it and know it.”
Webb said there’s no extra pressure for him to keep Penn State off the scoreboard because of the Hoosiers’ history against the Nittany Lions. He just said he’s confident in how his defense has played in front of him.
“I think that this group is confident with how our defense is performing right now,” Webb said. “We’ve had good defensive shape, been really connected and been limiting the other team’s chances.”
Yeagley said he wasn’t worrying about the streak either. Instead, he’s worrying about the basics.
He said the Big Ten season is like a season within a season, so he had the Hoosiers practicing the same drills they were at the start of the season this week.
With how the last few matches against Penn State have gone, the smallest things could make the difference, Yeagley said.
Last season, Penn State beat IU 1-0 in Bloomington, but Yeagley said aside from the Penn State goal IU dominated the match.
“I think we’ve played really well against Penn State,” Yeagley said. “I would take any of our performances from the last two or three years.”
The basics include what Yeagley calls restarts, or when a team re-initiates a dead ball from a free kick, corner kick or a throw in. The only goal in last year’s game came off a corner kick.
So at practice Thursday, in the practice-ending scrimmage, Yeagley had the Hoosiers run some set pieces twice, even three times.
On one occasion, junior midfielder Tanner Thompson was preparing to send a free kick in from outside the left side of the box. Before he began his run up, Yeagley told him to make sure he sent a good ball in.
Thompson did just that, lofting a cross over the small defensive wall on the edge of the box and toward the back post where senior midfielder Femi Hollinger-Janzen was waiting.
“Great ball, Tanner, great ball,” Yeagley shouted across the field at Thompson.
Then, he told him to do it again, which he did.
“I think it’s always a separator,” Yeagley said. “You can dominate games, and a set piece can find you that win or in a game where you’re not playing at your best.”
Lillard still contends he’s unaware of any scoreless drought the Hoosiers have had against Penn State. He just remembers what last season felt like.
“I’ve only played against Penn State once, and that was pretty rough,” the sophomore said. “I don’t know if there’s been a history with that, but it’s going to change Sunday.”
