Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Drop Exhibition Opener to Xavier, 2-1
8/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug. 22, 2010
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - With a mere four days of practice under its belts, the Indiana men's soccer team had the look of a squad trying to find its identity in a 2-1 exhibition loss to Xavier Sunday night on Jerry Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium.
"Tonight gave us a chance to look at a few different players, and also a few different ways of playing," said head coach Todd Yeagley, who enters his first season at the helm of the program. "Certainly that performance was not one that was up to our standards in a lot of areas. The players know that and realize what is expected from them.
"In the second half I was pleased with the toughness and tenacity we came out with, but that has to be there from the start. Our movement, combination play and attacking third play was out of sync. We will continue to work on that. On the flip side, defensively we made vital errors with our positioning. There is a lot to evaluate, but that is why we play these games."
Xavier jumped out to an early 1-0 lead at 9:12 as the Musketeers' Luke Spencer got behind the Indiana defense and slotted home the ball past IU goalkeeper Luis Soffner for the score. It was much the same with the second Xavier score at 51:37 as Spencer again dropped in behind. When expected help did not appear, Soffner was caught out of position as the Xavier player maneuvered around to poke the ball in the net. El-Hadji Dieng assisted on both scores.
Indiana got one back in the 85th minute with a long strike from senior defender Daniel Kelly. Kelly was on the receiving end of a rebound and tried his luck from about 35 yards out on the right side, smashing the ball into the upper right past Xavier goalkeeper Justin Marshall. Kelly nearly had the game-tying score with 22 seconds remaining as he got his head on a corner kick from freshman Harrison Petts, but the header sailed just high.
Junior Will Bruin, who was wearing the captain's armband, took the first of 12 Hoosier shots on the night with a strike in the 16th minute. He added a header later in the half, with senior Andy Adlard sending a header wide to comprise Indiana's three-shot tally in the first half. Xavier also had three attempts in the first 45 minutes.
Junior Alec Purdie, who came on as a sub late in the first half, nearly had a score with 33 minutes to play as freshman Nikita Kotlov sent a long ball to Purdie on the back post. Purdie managed to get a toe on it but was unable to control his shot and sent the ball wide.
With 18:43 remaining Petts crossed the ball into Bruin, who saw his header clang off the crossbar and out of play. In the 79th minute sophomore Joe Tolen took a shot that angled just wide left.
Next on the preseason slate, Indiana will take part in the ShinDigz National Soccer Festival in Ft. Wayne, Ind., Aug. 27 and 29, facing ACC power Duke on Friday and Denver on Sunday.
The 2010 season officially kicks off on Sept. 3 with the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. IU faces California at 7:30 p.m., before taking on UCLA on Sunday, Sept. 5 at 2 p.m. Fans are encouraged to "Fill the Bill" for Sunday's match against the Bruins in an effort to top the attendance record of 7,423 set against UCLA in 2007. The match will also be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network, one of four regular-season appearances on the Network for the Hoosiers.
Players Mentioned
