As the final few seconds elapsed, and for about 15 seconds after the match ended, sophomore forward Eriq Zavaleta stood, almost motionless, at the intersection of the half-circle and the 18-yard-box on the left side of the field. A couple San Diego State University players walked over to shake his hand, thankful to have survived 110 minutes of scoreless soccer on a wet Sunday afternoon at Jerry Yeagley Field.
With about 10 seconds to go in the second overtime, Zavaleta received a pass near the edge of the 18-yard-box from sophomore defender Drew Schall.
"I snuck behind the defense," Zavaleta said. "I think I was onside. The ref kind of had his mind made up: He blew the whistle and called a handball. It very well could've been."
Zavaleta said it was an example of the Hoosiers' day.
Coming into the match, the Hoosiers attempted 11 corner kicks in three matches. Against the Aztecs, the Hoosiers earned 19.
Junior midfielders Harrison Petts and A.J. Corrado took all of the Hoosiers' corners. Petts described the shots-to-goals ratio as frustrating. The Hoosiers outshot the Aztecs 29-10.
"There's going to be days where the ball doesn't bounce your way, like today," he said. "You just focus a little bit more and get hungrier in front of goal. It was kind of unlucky that we didn't find one. Maybe corner kicks and set pieces is the spot where we're going to find a goal on days like today."
On a rainy, dreary Sunday, the rain fell throughout the first half, as well as halftime. Zavaleta said the team needed to shoot the ball more.
"That was a thought the entire game," he said. "It's wet, it's hard to deal with as a keeper. We should've shot the ball more from outside and tested him (Aztecs' goalkeeper Blake Hylen) more.
"Initially, we wanted to play the ball into him and test him. I think the first play, we played the ball on a corner kick right into his area and he didn't deal with it well. You smell blood there, you try to pounce. But we couldn't finish."
Defensively, the Hoosiers finished a shutout of their third consecutive opponent. On the season, IU has scored eight unanswered goals. Only the Saint Louis University junior defender Jon Roeckle have beaten redshirt senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner, scoring 22 minutes into the season.
Zavaleta equalized a little under 12 minutes later, in the 34th minute. It's the only time the Hoosiers have trailed this season. They've played 380 minutes in four matches. They've been behind an infinitesimal .03 percent of the time.
They just could not break through offensively. IU Coach Todd Yeagley said both Aztec goalkeepers kind of stood on their heads at times. Femi Hollinger-Janzen tested backup goalkeeper Tim Peitsch in the 70th minute. (Peitsch came into the game seven minutes earlier.) The freshman forward ripped a shot from 20 yards away that sent Peitsch diving to his right to make what Yeagley called "a great save."
On the consequent corner, Petts, from the left side, sent the ball to the near-post. Junior midfielder Nikita Kotlov made first contact. His header bounced off the post and out of bounds.
Hylen reentered in the 79th minute.
Petts said the team felt like they outplayed the Aztecs and deserved to win.
Yeagley corroborated that sentiment.
"San Diego State's a good team," he said. "The team's cheering when they get off the field. They tied. I told the guys, 'That's a compliment to you.'"
Notes:
For the second time in as many Sundays, Indiana entered halftime in a scoreless draw with their opponent. ... It was the first game in which Zavaleta didn't score. ... Yeagley said the weather didn't have a huge effect on the game. ... Regarding personnel: "We're still evalulating," Yeagley said. ... In the 85th minute, Hylan touched the ball outside his area. It was a scoring chance for IU, and he was issued a yellow card. "We haven't had a great deal of luck with cards this weekend, on either side," Yeagley said. Redshirt sophomore Dylan Lax sat out this game due to a red card he sustained against Clemson.
