Indiana University
Louisville
No. 22 Indiana Blanks No. 14 Louisville, 1-0
10/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 22, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - A penalty kick off the foot of sophomore Andy Adlard proved to be all the offense No. 22 Indiana needed in a 1-0 victory over No. 14 Louisville Wednesday night at Jerry Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium.
The victory improved IU's record to 8-4-2 while the Cardinals dropped to 9-4-2 on the season.
It was a tale of two halves for Indiana as a sluggish first 45 minutes was followed by a dominating performance in the second frame. Trailing 7-2 in shot attempts at the break, the Hoosiers came out firing with 11 second-half shot attempts to Louisville's one.
"It was a tough first 45 minutes trying to adjust to their shape," Adlard said. "They were organized and sat in, and it was tough to find gaps to play through."
"They go hard at the ball and that was the biggest adjustment we had to make," said head coach Mike Freitag. "Against (Louisville) we had to be good on the ball, move the ball quickly and be patient."
The winning goal came in the 82nd minute on a play which was set up by Adlard. IU goalkeeper Chay Cain fed Adlard on the outlet and the sophomore played the ball up to forward Kevin Noschang. Noschang made his run into the left side of the box where he was taken down and the Hoosiers awarded a penalty kick. Adlard step up to take the shot, burying his attempt in the lower left corner for his fourth goal of the season.
Adlard is 2-for-2 on penalty kick attempts in 2008.
The Hoosiers were hanging on by a thread early in the first half as Louisville got off a couple of dangerous shots. The Cardinals nearly had the lead less than four minutes in when Phil Edginton headed in a ball that Noschang was just able to clear out with his own header.
"Looking back at the first half we were disappointed in how we came out to play," Cain said. "We expected the intensity of the (Notre Dame) game to carry over to the first whistle of this game, and that didn't happen. We saw the intensity we were looking for in the second half."
At 17:54 it was Edginton again, this time sending a header in that clanged off the cross bar and fell into the hands of Cain.
Indiana seemed out of synch in the first period which was seen in the 21st minute when Eric Alexander tried to play a ball into John Mellencamp who was making his run up the right side. Mellencamp was unable to get to the ball before it rolled over the touch line.
Less than five minutes later, Will Bruin had a wide open look but was unable to get all of his boot on the ball, sending in a weak dribbler that Louisville goalkeeper Andre Boudreaux was able to scoop up.
A seemingly different IU team came out of the lockerroom for the second half of play, beginning with a rocket off the foot of Bruin that went wide left at 51:12. Brad Ring got in on the shooting act in the 62nd minute with an attempt that also veered to the left.
"I think we have grown up," Freitag said. "We have made our mistakes and learned from them. The thing I am most proud of tonight is we found a way to win."
Mellencamp was looking to give Indiana the lead in 67th minute, sending in a shot that Boudreaux was just able to get a hand on and tip over the crossbar. Adlard added another scoring attempt at 67:57, putting up a shot that was kicked wide by a defender.
The Hoosiers return to conference play this weekend as they travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes. Sunday's match is slated for noon ET and will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
