Indiana men’s soccer’s quest for another championship begins this Sunday. The Hoosiers will host a familiar opponent, one they saw earlier this year: the Saint Louis University Billikens.
On Sept. 3, Indiana men’s soccer played then-No. 15 Saint Louis at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington. The Hoosiers went on to win the match 1-0, led by a clean sheet from graduate goalkeeper Holden Brown and a seventh minute goal by junior forward Collins Oduro.
At the time, Indiana was ranked No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches’ Poll. Fast forward two and a half months later, the Hoosiers hold the No. 6 national seed, while the Billikens are unranked. However, this matchup will be different from the first; this time it’s a single elimination affair.
A historic match
Indiana holds a 25-10-4 all-time record over Saint Louis, particularly dominating them at home. But the Hoosiers have experienced struggles against the Billikens on the road.
Indiana sports a record of 17-3-2 all time over the Billikens in Bloomington. On the road, Indiana is just 8-7-1 against Saint Louis.
The Billikens last beat the Hoosiers 2-0 in both of the programs’ season openers last season. This was a match in which Saint Louis took advantage of a sloppy, and slow-starting, game for Indiana.
While history points toward Indiana being successful at home against the Billikens, this is the NCAA tournament. Simply put, there is much more pressure and nerves at hand compared to a regular season match.
Ultimately, the next chapter in this series will be written Sunday afternoon with both teams’ seasons on the line.
Meet Saint Louis
Saint Louis comes into the match with extra confidence.
The Billikens just wrapped up a hard-fought, two- overtime victory over the University of Kentucky on Nov. 20 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Fresh legs could be an issue for the visiting Billikens, but even so, Indiana can’t take them lightly.
Saint Louis trailed for the majority of the match. But, in the closing minutes, Kentucky senior midfielder Kevin Larsson picked up a red card.
Larsson was ejected, leaving Kentucky with only 10 men on the pitch — moments later, Saint Louis took advantage and broke through.
Despite trailing 1-0 until the final four minutes, freshman midfielder Jack DiMaria delivered for the Billikens. His goal — the first of his career — in the 86th minute knotted the score.
Neither team scored in the first 10-minute-long overtime period. But four minutes into the second overtime, DiMaria put the dagger into the Wildcats, placing a shot past Kentucky senior goalkeeper Sebastian Conlon.
DiMaria’s brace pushed the Billikens into the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Saint Louis is also led by sophomore midfielder Drake Fournier and graduate goalkeeper Jeremi Abonnel, who were both named in TopDrawerSoccer’s preseason top 100 list on Aug 19.
Last year, as a freshman, Fournier was on the Atlanta-10 All-Conference Rookie team and tallied four assists along with a goal. However, the Leander, Texas, native has struggled this year. He’s only recorded two goals and four points in 16 games played.
Abonnel, on the other hand, has put up 10 clean sheets in 21 games played this year. His goals against average has been remarkably low at 0.65. He’s also posted an .800 goal save percentage, leading Saint Louis to a 11-2-8 record in games he’s started.
Last year, Abonnel was named to the First Team-All Atlantic-10 Conference and was the conference’s Goalkeeper of the Year. The Aix-en-Provence, France, native was recognized as the Atlantic-10 Championship Game MVP this year, after the Billikens won 5-4 in-penalty kicks over the University of Dayton on Nov. 16.
The Hoosiers will need to find a way to get past Abonell, as he was a bit of a challenge for Indiana in its match against Saint Louis in early September.
Coverage of the second-round match will be available on ESPN+. Kickoff is scheduled for noon Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
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.
