Hoosiers return to final four

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Eddie Robinson said he took his eyes off Ryan Mack for two seconds Saturday at North Carolina's Fetzer Field.\nFor two seconds, Robinson watched the ball instead of his man.\nBecause of that brief moment, the Tar Heels can only watch the NCAA men's soccer College Cup this weekend.\nMack, a junior midfielder, received a ball from senior midfielder Justin Tauber and turned on Robinson in those two seconds, finding himself a half step ahead of the Tar Heel midfielder with nothing in front of him.\nThen, with 31:08 remaining in the quarterfinal game, Mack sent a shot to the upper near corner and past North Carolina goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey. IU hung on to win 1-0. The victory, IU's third in three tournament road games thus far, sends the Hoosiers to their fourth consecutive final four.\n"That's the way it is, especially at this level," Robinson said. "It's Indiana. You can't watch the ball against these guys. They're too good."\nAnd too resilient this day.\nThe Hoosiers never took their eyes off the Tar Heels Saturday, throwing bodies in front of shots and against attackers in an attempt to stop one of the nation's top offenses.\nSophomore marking back John Swann successfully shut down North Carolina forward Chris Carrieri, who led the nation this season with 25 goals, and freshman marking back David Prall contained the Tar Heels' other forward and second-leading scorer, Caleb Norkus.\nThe rest of the Hoosiers did anything they could to stop the Tar Heels from scoring.\nIn the 19th minute, junior goalkeeper Colin Rogers' diving save stopped a Carrieri header, just as it reached the far post.\nSeven minutes later, IU junior midfielder Tyler Hawley retreated behind Rogers and cleared a sure goal off the line after Tar Heel midfielder Matt Laycock beat Rogers with a header.\nThe North Carolina attack became more intense after Mack scored.\n"I thought they sent their basketball team out in the last 20 minutes," IU coach Jerry Yeagley said. "They kept getting bigger and bigger, and we didn't have any answers to their size.\n"And when they play direct up to those big guys, you've just got to hang on. And that's what we did."\nThe Hoosiers survived the final half hour of play.\nSave for a few counter attack opportunities, IU packed it in and played defense after Mack's goal, while North Carolina went with three forwards and did nothing but attack.\nJunior marking back Ryan Hammer, one of IU's best players in the air, entered the game with 27 minutes remaining, replacing Prall, and Prall re-entered as an extra defensive midfielder with six minutes left.\nIU's ability to keep the Tar Heels scoreless surprised North Carolina coach Elmar Bolowich, whose team had not been shutout all season. North Carolina outshot the Hoosiers 18-8 and held an 8-4 advantage in corner kicks.\n"I was convinced that we would score," Bolowich said. "I was convinced that we would pull this game out. And the chances we did create, they were legitimate chances right in front of the goal.\n"It's just their keeper threw himself in, their players threw themselves into the balls that were ready to be shot, and they did a good job at that. They're the masters of it. They're composed. They don't panic."\nThe Hoosiers didn't panic, Tauber said, because they've been in the situation before, while the Tar Heels are new to tournament play. The most tournament experience any North Carolina player had was last season's first round defeat to Furman.\n"It's just a different atmosphere," Tauber said. "It's a tournament atmosphere. We know that a lot of the guys on North Carolina haven't been a part of that atmosphere, so we felt very confident coming into a game like this. The tournament's a lot different than the regular season. It's a lot different than the ACC tournament." \nIt's something the Tar Heels appeared the be ready for. Except for those two seconds.