When the final horn rang Sunday afternoon, Indiana women’s soccer exited Yurcak Field in Piscataway, New Jersey, with more questions than answers.
The Hoosiers dropped their second game in a row to finish up their three-game road stretch without a win. The 2-0 loss is another result that leaves more to be desired from the offense thus far in the season.
Outside of the season-opening 6-1 win over Youngstown State University, the Hoosiers have yet to have a game with more than two goals scored.
That provides a few questions; where has Indiana’s offense gone and where will it come from going forward?
Through the early part of the season, the Indiana defense has shown it can defend with discipline and success. The back line has kept games close, and goalkeeper performances by senior Dani Jacobson and graduate student Sally Rainey have kept opponents from running away with matches. But without goals, Indiana’s margin for error has been razor thin.
Sunday’s loss fit the same pattern. Indiana created spells of possession and moved the ball into dangerous areas, but when it came to the final third of the pitch, the attack stalled. Passes into the box were cut out, shots came from poor angles and the finishing touch never arrived in the 90 minutes of play.
The Hoosiers couldn’t capitalize on a few separate opportunities Sunday. Indiana put five shots on the goal and tallied eight shots in total.
Despite the lack of offense, the defense has kept Indiana in close matches time and time again. The defense allowed two costly goals against Rutgers.
In the 21st minute, Rutgers graduate student forward Nata Ramirez put the Scarlet Knights in front early with a goal in the bottom left corner.
Rutgers doubled its total and the lead in the 49th minute when junior forward Ashley Baran delivered a strike to the top right corner of the net.
Indiana was then forced to try to pressure the Scarlet Knights’ defense and could not find any success. The Hoosiers finished scoreless for the third time this season.
Indiana continues to fall in offensive statistical categories now in the conference. The Hoosiers rank tied for 16th in goal differential and tied for 15th in total goals in conference play this year.
Without a go-to scoring threat thus far, Indiana has been stuck looking for answers quite often and couldn’t find one Sunday.
Freshman defender Grace Hamm leads the team with three goals, while sophomore midfielder Maggie Ledwith, senior defender Abbey Iler, senior forward Sarah Sirdah and sophomore forward Aleyna Quinn each have a pair of goals. Sophomore defender Haden Vlcek also has a goal this year.
The loss to Rutgers dropped the Hoosiers to 3-4-2 on the season and 0-2-1 in conference play.
Conference play only raises the stakes for the next few matches. In the Big Ten, scoring chances are hard to come by, and Indiana’s ability to finally finish them may be the difference between staying in the hunt or watching its Big Ten tournament hopes climb out of reach.
The good news for the Hoosiers is that they get to return home for their next two matches. At home, Indiana is unbeaten this year.
Indiana will welcome a pair of west coast foes with Washington on Thursday and Oregon on Sunday. Washington will enter the match with a record of 5-1-4 and 2-0-1 in the conference. The Huskies are coming off of a 2-1 win over Illinois on Sept. 21.
The match between the Hoosiers and Huskies is slated to start at 8 p.m. Thursday at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington. The game will be streamed on Big Ten+.
Follow reporters Noah Gerkey (@Noah_Gerk and ngerkey@iu.edu) and Will Kwiatkowski (@WKwiatkowski_15 and wdkwiatk@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women's soccer season.
