Sophomore Easton Bogard hadn’t made his mark on the Indiana men’s soccer team yet.
But last night, when the moment came to Bogard, he delivered. Bogard’s spark could get him and the rest of the team moving forward in the right direction.
Last season, Bogard only appeared in seven total games due to an injury he suffered as a senior in high school. The Oak Park, Illinois, native ruptured his ACL and partially tore his meniscus, which had lingering effects on his freshman season at Indiana.
Now that Bogard is fully healthy, Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley is giving him more minutes to start the year. "He wasn’t cleared until the first week of the season (last year),” Yeagley said. “We knew the big picture with his health. Sometimes it takes a year, and luckily, we were able to have him as a player we could develop. Now we need him this season.”
Last night was a perfect example of what Yeagley meant when he said that Indiana needed Bogard’s skill to be put on display.
The Hoosiers found themselves in a similar position to the last match, where they trailed Clemson University 2-0 in the 60th minute. In this match, they trailed San Francisco 2-0 after a penalty kick 19 minutes in.
Indiana's start to the match wasn’t great; they came out flat-footed and with a lack of intensity on both sides of the pitch. However, this all flipped in the 30th minute when Yeagley opted to sub in a flurry of bench players—most notably Bogard and junior midfielder Jacopo Fedrizzi.
Fedrizzi’s impact was immediately felt. He scored a pair of goals, one before half and one in the 47th minute, to knot the score up at 2-2. The Italian native’s second goal put him up to three goals on the year in two games, an impressive showing from the Evansville transfer.
With the score tied, Indiana continued to apply pressure on a retreating San Francisco defense. In the 59th minute, Bogard had a prime opportunity to put the Cream and Crimson out in front but failed to convert in front of the net.
Despite the missed chance, Indiana still had the momentum on their side along with a loud home crowd. Feeding off that, Bogard delivered his moment only 10 minutes later.
“The coaching staff said bring the energy, change the game,” Bogard said postgame. “I just had to bring the energy.”
Bogard and his roommate, redshirt forward freshman Nolan Kinsella, connected on a run from Kinsella.
As 6’3” Kinsella entered the San Francisco box, he spotted the open Bogard in front of the goalkeeper. Bogard did the rest, receiving the ball and firing it into the back of the net to give Indiana their first lead of the game.
After the goal was scored, Kinsella and Bogard hugged each other with joy as their teammates came to congratulate them.
The goal was Bogard’s first for Indiana, coming at a critical time in the match.
“Honestly, I just remember the last part of the buildup where I saw Nolan as my right back where he could dump it to me,” Bogard said. “When I saw nobody was tracking me, I yelled for the ball. I had an easy job from there; I just had to tap it home.”
As for Kinsella, it was his second assist of the year. His first came on the game-tying goal in Indiana’s first match of the year, where the Cream and Crimson tied with Clemson 2-2.
Yeagley described the connection between Bogard and Kinsella as “funny” postgame, along with the excitement that Kinsella brings to the table for Indiana.
“Those two are funny. They like each other; they’re roommates,” Yeagley said. “Nolan will help us a lot this year. We’re really excited about his future with us. His timing and his angles are good: he’s cagey and just has huge upside.”
With the come-from-behind win, Indiana moves to 1-0-1 on the season.
“Easton was a big part of the win,” Yeagley said. “He just kind of changed the complexion of the match, and then everything came together down the stretch.”
Follow reporter Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s soccer season.
