Indiana University Athletics
HOOSIERS BEAT BUTLER 2-1 IN TRIPLE OVERTIME THRILLER
11/23/1997 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
HOOSIERS BEAT BUTLER 2-1 IN TRIPLE OVERTIME THRILLER Indiana to advance to second round of NCAA Tournament
Bloomington, Ind.- Freshman Matt Fundenberger's goal at the 123:54 mark in triple overtime gave the Hoosiers the victory over Butler and advance them to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Fundenberger headed in a pass from fellow freshman Nick Garcia in the sudden death overtime period to give IU the 2-1 win.
Indiana was just 8:45 from winning in regulation when Butler's Craig Donaldson scored from 30 yards out to tie the match. Donaldson lofted a shot over redshirt freshman goalkeeper T.J. Hannig, sending the match into two 15 minute overtime periods. The thirty minutes went without a goal, but three minutes and 54 seconds into the third overtime, Fundenberger converted.
"This is definitely the best moment of my career so far," Fundenberger said.
Indiana scored at the 8:45 mark when junior Lazo Alavanja scored on an indirect kick to give the Hoosiers the 1-0 lead. The score would remain that way until Donaldson's goal near the end of regulation.
"What a great finish to this match," Head Coach Jerry Yeagley said. "Today we dialed 1-800-FRESHMEN."
"Sometimes it's good to have a challenge like this rather than win without some difficulty," Yeagley said. "I thought we played a little soft today at times...we need to get better at a number of things."
The victory improves the Hoosiers' record to a perfect 21-0-0 and advances them to the second round against Bowling Green, which defeated Marquette on Saturday, 1-0. The site for the match will be announced by the NCAA tomorrow.
SCORING SUMMARY
IU: Alavanja (Lavrinenko), 8:45
BU:JDonaldson 81:15
IU:JFundenberger (Garcia), 123:54
Shots: IU-18, BU-5; Corners: IU-7, BU-2; Saves: IU-1, BU-6; Fouls: IU-18,
BU: 33; Offsides: IU-1, BU-2.
INDIANA 2, BUTLER 1, (3 OT)
QUOTES
Head Coach Jerry Yeagley:
"I think for us, our back four had a tremendous match."
On Butler's goal:
"I think it caught T.J. (Hannig) by surprise. It certainly caught me by surprise."
"That was a stunner. All of a sudden it's tied, but I think that is another indication that this team can stay mentally tough and mentally focused and not drop their guard."
"Butler put forth a tremendous effort. We can expect more of that from other teams."
"Some of your toughest matches are your regional competition."
"I think the physical component in a match like this is not our comfort zone. Butler did more of stifling us than creating their own offense."
"Their goalie had a couple of nice saves. I thought (Stephen)JArmstrong was the man of the match for their team and maybe for the game."
On the Hoosiers' second round opponent:
"(Bowling Green) is a very similar team to Butler. I think we'll see a quite similar situation next week."
"I thought our best play was the last two overtime periods when we did finally wear them down a little bit."
Freshman Matt Fundenberger on the game tying goal:
"We've been in that situation so far, and I think our team pulls through when we need it."
On his goal:
"Coach is always telling us to stay wide...so I was waiting for a cross to come in."
Freshman Nick Garcia on his game-winning assist:
"I was looking to play it out to (Chris) Klein but I didn't see him...I saw Fundy out of the corner of my eye so I chipped it in to him."
"We were all really tired but we've been working all week on fitness and that's definitely helped us."
Freshman Nick Garcia:
"No matter how tired our body was, everybody seemed to pull through it."
Butler Head Coach Ian Martin:
"We felt if we could've gone to the half 0-0, we could win."
"We felt the second half was our and right away we were going to try to win it in the first 15 minutes (of overtime)."
"I felt if we could've got to penalty kicks, we could've won it."
"The second half, we really took them out of their game."
"I think today Stephen Armstrong showed why he's the best player in the nation. There's no better player in the country, as far as I'm concerned."
"Every single day (Armstrong) give you everything he has and elevates the players on my team."
"We're probably two players away from being a good, good team that can go deep in a tournament."
