Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Face Each Other in Intrasquad Scrimmage
8/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug. 23, 2009
Video: Head Coach Mike Freitag Discusses Today's Scrimmage
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - With their first preseason match still four days away, the Indiana men's soccer team battled it out amongst itself with an intrasquad scrimmage Sunday afternoon on Jerry Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium.
The scrimmage was broken down into three periods with the first two running 30 minutes and the last period going for 25 minutes. The first period matched the veterans against the younger guys, and the younger guys took the match by a 1-0 score on an own goal. Senior Ofori Sarkodie, junior Daniel Kelly and sophomore Tommy Meyer held down the defensive line for the veterans, with junior Rich Balchan, senior Lee Hagedorn, senior Eric Alexander, senior Darren Yeagle and junior Andy Adlard patrolling the midfield. Sophomores Will Bruin and Alec Purdie combined for the attack up top.
"It was great to get out here and try different combinations," said head coach Mike Freitag. "Today there was some good, some bad, but all in all I am happy with how we have trained up to this point and I like the potential this team has."
Balchan launched a nice ball into the box to set up Purdie early in the first period, but Purdie's shot went just wide. After battling injury for most of the last two years, Yeagle made his presence felt along the left side, sending balls into the box on a regular basis.
Alexander sent a header just wide after a dummy from Bruin, while redshirt freshman Tim Wylie had the first shot of the day for the younger crew. Wylie and junior Neil Wilmarth teamed up at forward for the second team.
Yeagle sent a beautiful ball into the box but by the time Adlard reached it the defense had swarmed in and the junior could only get off an errant shot. A few plays later Adlard sent in a perfectly-placed corner kick that Bruin was able to get a head on, but sent his attempt high.
Freshman Kevin Bick sent in a hard, low shot for the second team that went just wide. Sophomore Joe Tolen kept the first team off the board with a kick save on the line off a shot from Yeagle.
Game two put Bick up top with Bruin and he made the second team pay with a goal for the first team. Bick weaved his way through the defense before unleashing a shot from 18 yards out that sailed past goalkeeper Nemanja Kostic. It would be fellow freshman Matt Wiet putting home the equalizer for the second team that left the match tied at 1-1.
Wiet moved to defense for the first team in game three, pairing Purdie with Wylie up top. Wilmarth and Ian Block made up the attacking duo for the second team. Purdie got off one of his seven shots which resulted in a nice save by Sarkodie. He then tried to back heel the ball into the net but Mitchell was there to scoop up the attempt. Purdie then got off another attempt which just glanced off the defense inches from the goal but carried back into the field of play.
Purdie finally broke through with a goal with a rebound shot. Junior Cameron Jordan sent in a hard-driving attempt which Mitchell was able to push back into play. The ball landed at a waiting Purdie, who took the open shot for the score.
Sophomore Tyler McCarroll put one in for the second team to knot things up, but the first team came back with a last-minute goal for the win.
The Hoosiers travel to Ft. Wayne, Ind. this week for the National Soccer Festival where they will take on Drake (Aug. 27) and DePaul (Aug. 29) in exhibition matches. The regular seasons kicks off on Sept. 4 against St. John's in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. Indiana is ranked No. 7 in the NSCAA preseason national rankings, while St. John's is No. 5. IU will play No. 3 Wake Forest on Sunday, Sept. 6 on day two of the tournament.
