Indiana men’s soccer lost for the first time this season Friday night after the University of Washington defeated them 1-0.
The match was tense, with a late goal by Washington freshman forward Charlie Kosakoff giving Washington the win after a scoreless first half. The matchup was bound to be a challenge taking on a ranked opponent, but Indiana got a taste of that early in the game.
The Hoosiers struggled to maintain possession in the first half as the Huskies pressed high and constantly won the ball back. Indiana resorted to sending long balls for most of the first half without much success.
The Huskies won most of the duels from the long balls, allowing them to keep the ball for long periods of time. Despite possessing the ball for the majority of the first half, the Huskies didn’t create many scoring chances. It was the Hoosiers who looked dangerous on the counterattack late in the first half, but it didn’t amount to anything on the scoresheet.
The Hoosiers began to grow into the game late in the first half and carried momentum into the second half.
Indiana possessed the ball for long periods of time in the second half and came close to scoring on three different occasions in the early stages of the half.
The first opportunity came three minutes into the second half with a long-range strike by junior forward Tommy Mihalic, forcing a difficult save from Washington senior goalkeeper Sam Fowler, who deflected it into the crossbar. Mihalic had another chance to score after junior forward Sam Sarver headed the ball to him inside the six-yard box, but the shot wasn’t enough to beat the goalkeeper.
Freshman forward Collins Oduro also had an opportunity in the half where he found himself face to face with Fowler, but Oduro’s shot straight at the keeper and the play ended in a corner kick for Indiana. Head coach Todd Yeagley said the frustration from missing these chances was clear in the locker room.
“They were disappointed, a few guys who had some chances to score were pretty irate,” Yeagley said.
Despite the loss, Yeagley believed his team performed well in this matchup against a squad that could make a deep run in the NCAA tournament.
“They knew they did enough to get the result,” Yeagley said. “Outside of the first 15-20 minutes we were in control.”
The Hoosiers will play the last game of their three-game homestand against Seton Hall University on Monday, Sept. 4th, with kick-off scheduled for 8 p.m.
