After not allowing a single goal by the Northwestern offense, the men's soccer team fell out of the Big Ten conference tournament in the semi-finals after a ball which hit off senior defenseman Tommy Meyer and junior goalkeeper Luis Soffner trickled into the Hoosiers' own goal. With this goal, Northwestern tied the game 1-1, took it into overtime and eventually penalty kicks, where IU lost 3-2.
The team's lone goal came in the 20th minute of the first half with Meyer fed a ball into the box to freshman forward Eriq Zavaleta, who spun around his defender and placed a shot just inside the left post. The goal was Zavaleta's 10th of the season, giving IU a double-digit goal scorer two years in a row for the first time since 2004-05.
Even after the Hoosiers let the ball slip in their own goal, they saw several opportunities both towards the end of regulation as well as in the two 10-minute overtime periods, but nothing wanted to fall.
In the penalty kicks, Indiana missed their first three attempts before sophomore Jacob Bushue and senior Alec Purdie sank both theirs in IU's fourth and fifth attempts. And after the Wildcat and Bloomington-native Jarrett Baughman missed Northwestern's fifth attempt, a shot which could have put it away, the teams went into sudden death.
But sophomore Harrison Petts had his shot in the sixth round saved, and Northwestern's Nick Gendron sent a shot past Soffner and into the back of the net, knocking Indiana out of the tournament.
The Hoosiers will now have to wait until Monday to see where they fall in the NCAA tournament. The 48-team field will be announced on Monday at 4:30 p.m. on NCAA.com
