Hoosiers' confidence helps in first-round NCAA win

I arrived in San Jose and tried to adjust accordingly. Although I was promised sun and warmth, I quickly found out shorts are not necessarily appropriate attire year-round in "Cali." Getting to the hotel at 5:45 p.m., I turned on the television to find out the Duke-Villanova game that started at seven was actually almost over. The time change was worse than I thought, but I did get a kick out of watching the 11 p.m. PST SportsCenter at 11 p.m. The time change allowed me to get to the second half of the Stanford-Fullerton match Saturday night, where I was fortunate enough to listen to the best hecklers I've come across so far at a soccer match. Although I was 2,000 miles from home, for the first time, I felt I was truly among my people.\nFast forward to game time of the IU-San Jose State match. Even in warmups it was apparent the Hoosiers were in their element. They looked like the fine-tuned machine that has won 13 of its last 14 tournament games, going through drills like those little baseball warriors in the Tom Emansky baseball training skills video. \nOn the other hand, San Jose State looked a little tight. Not necessarily bad, but shaky enough to wonder just who the heck they played to stay undefeated all year.\nThe game, a 4-0 Hoosier win, was textbook IU soccer. \n"Defense and set plays, those have to be your staples come tournament time," IU coach Jerry Yeagley said. \nThe players obviously took his words to heart. During the match, IU capitalized on two set plays, which were set up by an opportunistic offensive attack. While the Hoosiers might not have dominated possession, during the times they did have the ball they knew what to do with it. \nAnd then there was the defense. The Hoosiers turned "San Jo" into a bunch of epileptic, nearsighted snipers -- jumpy with the trigger and nowhere close with the shot. The few times the Spartans did get a quality chance in the second half, they saw an extremely confident goalkeeper T.J. Hannig charging at them or making a hard save look easy.\nEarlier in the week San Jose State coach Gary St. Clair said his team's speed might triumph over IU's size and physical style of play. I'll give St. Clair this -- his team was one of, if not the quickest, IU played all year. But it's hard to be speedy when you're on the ground. End result: Physical 4, Quick 0.\nWhile the result of the game didn't shock me, the San Jose State press conference sure did. San Jose State was obviously a confident squad not used to losing, and that showed with some of the post-game comments. Take this tidbit from senior defender Ryan Suarez.\n"I'd love to play them again," Suarez said. "I think we'd beat them again. I felt that we dominated a good part of the game."\nOne note to Ryan: To beat a team again you have to beat them the first time. If watching those four goals going into the back of the net wasn't reminder enough, glance at the scoreboard every once in awhile.\nAnd then a nugget of wisdom from the man who bore the brunt of the IU defensive attack, senior midfielder Jorge Martinez. \n"We were just unlucky," Martinez said. "We were real unlucky because we dominated the game. We were on their half of the field most of the game, but we just couldn't put them away."\nThe Spartans just don't get it. Sure, they might have dominated possession. But the last time I checked, the winner of a game is decided on goal differential. Not the number of minutes a team holds the ball. Not the number of shots missed by at least five feet in any direction. And not the number of times an errant shot hit a kid in the first row -- which, by my unofficial count, San Jose State won 1-0.\n"Sometimes life can be cruel," coach Gary St. Clair said. Yes, and sometimes you just get beat by a better team.\nSaturday, the Hoosiers will try to train the Huskies of Washington in Seattle. But it doesn't matter where the Hoosiers take the pitch. The only sure thing is that, come game time, they'll be ready.