Todd Yeagley walked into the press box, placed his drink on a side table and settled in front of the red Indiana backdrop.
The Indiana men’s soccer head coach just witnessed his side draw 1-1 with the University of Evansville, and the first word out of his mouth summarized the feeling surrounding the match.
“Disappointing.”
The result marked the second tie between the Hoosiers and the Purple Aces in the last three years, the previous coming in 2022 before Indiana’s national championship run. It also continued a recent stretch of letdown performances, most recently the 2-0 loss to the University of Dayton and 1-1 draw to Butler University.
Some coaches may feel the lack of results is a reason to be worried, especially with crucial Big Ten games just beyond the horizon.
But Yeagley doesn’t.
“If we were performing as our record, I’d have more concerns, but we’re not,” Yeagley said postgame. “We haven’t lost confidence in them; we know they can do it.”
Indiana senior forward Sam Sarver’s first goal of the season gave the Hoosiers the lead in the 31st minute. Yeagley previously highlighted Sarver as talented but lacking the finishing touch, so his goal seemed to be a sign of better things for Indiana, a team lacking a clinical nature through six games.
But opportunities continued to come and go. Some were long-range efforts forcing a save from Evansville freshman goalkeeper Michal Mroz; others were close shots that just missed the bottom corner of the net.
Indiana continued to rack up missed chances, but it successfully maintained the lead and left Evansville scoreless.
That is until the 73rd minute. Evansville redshirt freshman midfielder Jacopo Fedrizzi curled a beautiful shot into the bottom corner, netting the Purple Aces the equalizer on its first shot on goal.
“Their goal was fantastic,” Yeagley said. “You don’t put the second or third away, that can happen.”
Seventeen minutes remained, but the Hoosiers’ shots continued to miss the target. The best opportunity came to the feet of graduate student forward Justin Weiss, whose effort in the six-yard box right in front of goal was blocked by an Evansville defender.
In a match filled with possibilities, Indiana failed to capitalize. Yeagley noted his side had many phases of the match that were positive, yet some of the most critical phases were lacking.
“Restarts as an element tonight I think could have been the difference,” Yeagley said. “Whether it’s a wide service or a corner kick, we had way too many missed assignments, (or) the serve was the wrong location. That’s disappointing.”
More obviously, Indiana managed to convert only one goal in 20 attempts, an increasingly commonplace statistic this season. Against Rutgers, the Hoosiers scored one in 13 shots; against Dayton, zero in 15 shots; and against Butler, one in 10 shots.
Indiana’s finishing troubles don’t seem to bother Yeagley, who’s preparing to face Maryland on Friday night at Bill Armstrong Stadium. He predicts his team will be bummed but ready to continue their work.
“Sun comes up, we get after it,” Yeagley said. “It’s always the same. We’ve seen this show before, right? We won’t feel sorry for ourselves — it happened.”
A 2-2-3 record heading into a critical conference matchup creates less margin for error with a Hoosier squad hoping to extend its astronomical streak of consecutive postseason appearances, dating back to 1986.
But a trip to the postseason always comes with pressure, Yeagley said. So, if the Hoosiers intend on being there in November, his side will have already faced pressure — and he’s certain it will be just fine.
“Pressure is OK,” Yeagley said. “We’ll deal with it.”
Follow reporters Matt Press (@MattPress23) and Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s soccer season.
