Three games, three states and no wins to show for it. Indiana women’s soccer closed its opening Big Ten road stretch Sunday with a 2–0 loss to Rutgers at Yurcak Field in Piscataway, New Jersey, dropping the Hoosiers to 0–2–1 in conference play.
After grinding out a scoreless draw in their Big Ten conference opener at Illinois in Champaign, Illinois, and battling late in a 1-2 defeat at Maryland in College Park, Maryland, the Hoosiers ran out of answers in New Jersey.
A pair of goals from the Scarlet Knights left Indiana still searching for its first road victory of the season.
With three straight away matches to open league play, the Hoosiers had little margin for error.
The backline held firm in the opening minutes. Senior defender Olivia Albert blocked an early chance in the ninth minute, denying Rutgers a breakthrough and giving Indiana’s attack time to settle.
But the Scarlet Knights found their rhythm midway through the half and opened the scoring in the 21st minute to take control.
Indiana generated chances of its own. Seven Hoosiers recorded a shot, with junior defender Ella Stanley leading the way with two attempts. Senior forward Marisa Grzesiak and sophomore defender Haden Vlcek each tested Rutgers redshirt junior goalkeeper Olivia Bodner, but none of the seven Hoosier shots crossed the line. Five of those were on target, a sign of more efficient attacking play, but Indiana could not find the back of the net.
The defense and goalkeepers kept Indiana in contention throughout the trip — combining for a shutout in Illinois and limiting Maryland to two goals despite constant pressure and 15 shots.
On the offensive end, the Hoosiers struggled to find a rhythm, creating opportunities against all three opponents but failing to convert them into more than their one score at Maryland.
The trip underscored a theme head coach Josh Rife pointed out at the start of September — success at home must be matched by results on the road.
In a postgame press conference following Indiana’s 1–0 win over Ohio University on Sept. 7 in Bloomington, Rife highlighted the Hoosiers struggles on the road to open the season.
“We’re undefeated at the Bill,” Rife said. “But on two road trips so far, we’ve come away on the losing end of both, you’ve got to be able to string some points together on the road to be competitive and to position yourself for postseason play.”
The Hoosiers have proven to be tough to beat in Bloomington, but away from Bill Armstrong Stadium the story has been different. Sept. 12, in Indiana’s gritty draw at Illinois, Indiana grabbed its first Big Ten point of the year, but it was followed up with losses to Maryland and Rutgers.
Rife expected the challenge, noting before the stretch that conference games, especially those on the road, are a challenge for all teams.
“One thing I know, whether I’m here or anywhere else, is that conference games are hard and conference road wins are even tougher,” Rife said. “Our first three conference games are on the road, and I think that will test us a bit — really challenge us to see what we’re made of. We just talked about that with the team.”
The Hoosiers now return home with less than a week to prepare for their next conference game against Washington at 8 p.m. Sept. 25 at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington.
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.
