Hoosiers allow most goals in a game since 1989

INDIANAPOLIS ' IU's men's soccer teams, traditionally, have several trademarks. One, for example, is that the Hoosiers do not give up many goals.\nThey gave up only 14 last season, and 11 the year before.\n Friday, the Hoosiers went against the norm, giving up four goals in a 4-1 loss to Creighton. The match marked the first time in 238 games, and fifth time ever, that IU has given up four goals in one game.\nCoach Jerry Yeagley gave no excuses; he attributed the four goals to the Bluejays' attack.\n"I want to credit Creighton, first of all," Yeagley said. "They played a very good game. Defensively, they were just swarming all over us. And their two front players, that's as good of an individual performance as I've seen.\n"I mean, we just couldn't handle them. They deserve a lot of the credit."\nCreighton's front runners, Brian Mullan and Mike Tranchilla, deserve a lot of the credit because they created a lot of the chances.\nMullan finished with two goals; Tranchilla assisted on both of Mullan's goals and scored one of his own.\nThe pair opened the scoring 17 minutes into the match. Mullan played a ball to Tranchilla, who beat a defender and played the ball back to Mullan. Mullan collected the pass about 15 yards away from goal, turned left and fired a shot past IU senior goalkeeper T.J. Hannig, despite being covered by several defenders.\nThe shot was Creighton's only one of the first half and one of only six shots on goal that Creighton had.\nThe Bluejays' second goal came 12 minutes into the second half, when Tranchilla beat two IU defenders and sent a shot past a diving Hannig.\nWhile the first and second goals occurred with IU's defense packed into the penalty area, the Hoosiers were spread out for the most part. They didn't play compact defense, which allowed Creighton to win balls in the midfield. \n"I think at times we got a little too spread from the back to the front," Hannig said. "We like to keep the game compact, keep the game in the middle.\n"I think coming from the back, the defenders to the forwards were too spread, giving them a lot of time to move the ball to the midfield and give the play to the frontrunners, the strength of their team."\nThe Hoosiers were also plagued by Creighton's counterattack.\n"They just kept going at us, and we didn't have enough time to get people back," said freshman Matt Ahumada, who started the second half at sweeper. "It was all about the counter attack, really. We dominated, but they made their chances count."\nThe next chance the Bluejays made count was an IU mistake.\nIU junior defender John Swann lost the ball near midfield, cutting Mullan loose for a breakaway. Mullan slid the ball just past Hannig, giving the Bluejays a 3-0 lead.\nThe Hoosiers netted their only goal with 11:17 remaining, when senior forward Matt Fundenberger tucked a shot under the cross bar from just a few yards away.\nCreighton ended any hopes of a comeback shortly thereafter, when Ishmael Mintah scored on a direct kick from 20 yards out. On the restart, Mintah placed the ball over a five-man wall and past Hannig. \n"That's going to happen now and then," said Yeagley of giving up four goals. "Let's hope we got it out of our system (Friday night). But the free kick was a very nice shot. Tranchilla on the one where he beat three people, that was special. The third one, where we turned the ball over, it was our mistake. That one hurt us."\nThe Hoosiers were also hurt by the loss of starting midfielders senior Justin Tauber and sophomore Phil Presser. Neither could play the second half of the game because of shin injuries.\nThat loss, added to the fact the team as a whole didn't play to its potential, opened the door for Creighton's victory.\n"Maybe the flood gates will open for us one of these days," Yeagley said. "I don't know. But we've got to do better, both ends, in all respects. This was not an acceptable performance on our part. But again, Creighton deserves a lot of the credit"