Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Akron
Indiana Shuts Out Akron 2-0
9/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 20, 2006
AKRON, Ohio - Behind goals from Brad Ring and Darren Yeagle, the Indiana Hoosiers defeated the No. 21 Akron Zips 2-0 in Akron, Ohio on Wednesday evening.
"This was a big win for us," head coach Mike Freitag said. "The three games we lost have been tough, and we needed a good win tonight. The guys dug deep to win this one. It's tough to win games on the road, and its especially tough to beat a ranked team on the road. The team really showed what it could do tonight. They kept the faith, and proved that if you continue to do things the right way, you will get good results.
"The defense was tremendous; the three backs (Julian Dieterle, Greg Stevning, Charley Traylor) were focused tonight. They did not allow Akron to get many good chances."
Although Akron (6-2) out shot Indiana (4-3-1) 9-6 in the game, all but one of the Zips shots were wide of the goal.
Ring put the Hoosiers on the board in the 18th minute. Ring ran down the left sideline and attempted a cross in to Yeagle and Eric Alexander. The cross was deflected by an Akron player and bounced back towards Alexander. Alexander, making his first career start, passed the ball back to a wide open Ring, who buried it in the upper right corner of the net.
Following Indiana's goal, Akron increased its offense to control the ball in its offensive half for a large portion of remaining time in the period. The Hoosier defense held strong and thwarted opportunities created from two corner kicks and two free kicks in the waning minutes. The Zips best chance to score came in the 38th minute, as Ashley Kozicki kicked downfield to a waiting Sinisa Ubiparipovic. His pass was a half-step off, and Ubiparipovic was unable to make the shot.
In the second half, the physical play from both teams continued. Akron's Pablo Moreira's header just over the goal in the 50th minute was the closest the Zips came to a goal.
Yeagle added an insurance goal in the 75th minute. Surrounded by the Akron defense, Yeagle gained possession of a rebounded ball and sprinted towards the goal. He fired a shot from 20-yards out into the lower right corner of the goal.
Akron held a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks. Sophomore Chay Cain made one save for the Hoosiers, while his Akron counterpart Evan Bush made none.
Indiana returns to Armstrong Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 24 to begin Big Ten play against Michigan. The game starts at 2:30 p.m. following the women's soccer game with Ohio State at noon.
