Indiana University Athletics
HOOSIERS DEFEAT CENTRAL FLORIDA
9/18/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
September 18, 1998
HOOSIERS DEFEAT CENTRAL FLORIDAIndianapolis -- The Indiana men's soccer team went into Friday's night's game against the top offensive team in the nation in Central Florida. But in the end quickness, speed and defense helped the Hoosiers win 3-0 in the opening game of the Butler Classic.
"We were concerned about their offensive abilities," Indiana head coach Jerry Yeagley said. "But we did an excellent job of defending tonight."
Indiana's defensive line of sweeper Nick Garcia and marking backs Dennis Fadeski and Andrew Parrish held the Golden Knights to just seven shots. IU goalkeeper T.J. Hannig had to make only four saves, only one of which was a point blank shot.
To demonstrate how good the defense was, Central Florida's Heikki Ritvanen entered the game as the top individual scorer in the nation with nine goals in four games. Friday he was held without a shot and touched the ball just twice in the game.
"Indiana's defense is really good," Central Florida coach Bob Winch said. "Garcia is an excellent player and their entire defense took us out of our game."
The Hoosiers got on the scoreboard in the 40th minute when Matt Fundenberger headed home a long pass from Ryan Mack and the teams went to the break with the Hoosiers leading 1-0.
Mack set up the second Indiana goal in the 54th minute as he made a 30 yard pass from the right wing which Dema Kovalenko headed past UCF goalkeeper Antti Laitinen for a 2-0 lead.
The final goal was almost a carbon copy of the first two as Parrish made a nice pass down the right sideline to B.J. Snow who then centered the ball to a waiting Aleksey Korol. Korol one touched the ball into the net for the final score.
"Mack is getting better each game for us," Yeagley said. "He has been our most consistent offensive player so far this season and his serves tonight (into the box) were excellent."
"They were playing more to the central part of the field so I had a lot of room to play on the wing," Mack, a freshman said. "The passes I made for goals were easy crosses."
While the Hoosiers did manage to score three times, they had numerous other chances to add to that total as they registered 17 shots.
"Three's enough, but we could have had more tonight," Yeagley said. "This was an important win for us," Yeagley added. "We expected a lot tighter contest tonight but they just couldn't handle out speed and attacking quickness."
The Hoosiers finish out the Butler Classic by playing Jacksonville Sunday.
Box Score
Indiana 1 2 3
Central Florida 0 0 0
IU - Fundenberger (Mack), 39:13
IU - Kovalenko (Mack), 53:58
IU - Korol (Parrish, Snow), 82:44
Shots: Indiana 17, UCF 7
Corner Kicks: Indiana 12, UCF 3
Saves: Indiana 5, UCF 7
Fouls: Indiana 13, UCF 15
Offsides: Indiana 6, UCF 0
© Indiana University Athletics, 1998
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