In its last match, No. 20 Indiana men’s soccer showed the resilience necessary to pull out a 4-2 victory against Ohio State on Oct. 10.
The Hoosier faithful was used to performances like this at the beginning of the year, but hadn’t seen something like it in the past month of action.
Indiana completed three comebacks in its first three matches of the season, including a tie against Clemson University on Aug. 21. Two victories followed over the University of San Francisco and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
The win against the Buckeyes on Oct. 10 was much needed for the Hoosiers, as it secured their third victory in Big Ten play and kept Big Ten tournament hopes alive.
Now, with a match on tap against No. 19 University of Kentucky, the Hoosiers will look to secure their sixth non-conference win of the season in a road match.
Slow starts not a concern for Yeagley
The one major concerning aspect of Indiana’s season has been its slow starts to matches.
The latest example came in the Ohio State match, where Indiana trailed by a goal 55 minutes into the match.
However, the Hoosiers came from behind in that match, pulling out a victory led by senior forward Palmer Ault, who tallied the game-tying assist and netted the go-ahead goal. Despite the win, trailing early and often has been a seemingly problematic issue for the Hoosiers.
With Indiana’s successful start to the season in which they were ranked No. 1 in the country from Sept. 9-16, the issue was often overshadowed. However, this issue has flared up again in Big Ten play. This has led to Indiana’s 3-3-0 record in conference play with losses to Michigan at home as well as Michigan State and Washington on the road.
Although it’s been a pattern since the beginning of the year, head coach Todd Yeagley said in a press conference Oct. 8 he personally doesn’t “view it as a trend.”
But for Yeagley and his group, the first half against Kentucky will likely be the most decisive point of the match for the Hoosiers. With Kentucky coming off a loss in its last match against No. 17 Marshall University, Yeagley said Monday that getting out to a fast start could be critical.
“They will respond well, they are a prideful group,” Yeagley said. “They just got beat, although they were down a man in their last match. They are going to be jacked up early. Everytime we play someone, we get their best; we must play at our best from the beginning.”
Simply put, Yeagley’s groups can’t afford to start slow ⎯ especially in a hostile road environment.
Meet the Wildcats
No. 19 Kentucky started the season on a relatively good note.
It won its first match against then-No. 20 Western Michigan University. Kentucky currently holds an overall record of 6-1-3 and 3-1-0 in the Sun Belt Conference. Yet, the Wildcats lost in their last match.
Historically, the Hoosiers have dominated the Wildcats. Indiana sports a 27-3-5 all-time record over Kentucky, winning 17 of the first 18 meetings.
Indiana won the last matchup between both programs, securing a 3-2 victory last season where Tommy Mihalic seized control of the match in the final five minutes.
Kentucky’s head coach, Johan Cedergren, leads the Wildcats in his 14th season, holding a record of 152-71-46 during his time in Lexington.
This year, the Wildcats feature an attack led by transfer graduate midfielder Alex Ruiz who leads Kentucky with six goals and three assists.
Yeagley said Monday that Indiana will also keep its eye on sophomore midfielder Agustin Lopez. The Santa Fe, Argentina, native was a player the Hoosiers struggled to contain last season.
“They’re a pretty deep team,” Yeagley said. “I know a few of their attackers, for example, Lopez, caused us some problems last year. We’ve played against good attackers, so we have to put a lot of pressure on them in order to succeed.”
If Indiana wants to be successful in the match, its defense will have to step up and compliment the attacking line. After a strong performance last match from sophomore midfielder Charlie Heuer, where he was impactful all over the field, he’s slated to be a key player for the Hoosiers.
The match is set to kick off at 7 p.m. Tuesday and coverage will be available on ESPN+.
Follow reporters Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) and Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer and matfuent@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana men's soccer season.
