Last year John Michael Hayden flew through the 18-yard box hammering the ball with his head into the net off a cross from former Hoosier Danny O'Rourke, giving IU the 3-2 double overtime victory over Maryland in the national semifinal match.\nHe did the same in Sunday's 4-0 win against Southern Methodist off a cross from senior midfielder Mike Ambersley.\n"Those same thoughts were going through my head as the ball was floating in there," Hayden said.\nIn fact, the junior midfielder's goal capped off another similar chain of events Sunday which also occurred in last season's match with Maryland. Senior midfielder Brian Plotkin scored the first goals in Friday and Sunday's matches, except similar to Hayden's goal, Plotkin scored the first goal versus Maryland. Ambersley sandwiched his goal between Plotkin and Hayden's just as he did versus Maryland.\nPlotkin also notched his first assist of the season on Ambersley's goal.\n"I worked on (scoring) a lot over the summer and in our meetings (at the end of last year)," Plotkin said. "Coach (Freitag) said it was something that I should go home and work on. He said he was happy with my assists, but that I could be more on the goal side of the score column. I went home over the summer and I've just taken two chances well."\nJunior midfielder Josh Tudelan scored the fourth goal in Sunday's match.\nNot one forward scored on any of the Hoosier's five goals this weekend, even though last season's leading scorer junior Jacob Peterson and freshman Lee Nguyen started both games up top. But the midfield's offensive production shouldn't come as too big of a surprise, as Ambersley started all but one game at forward last season and Plotkin was the second leading scorer on the team.\nAmbersley had a foot on the first three goals as he assisted on Plotkin and Hayden's tallies.\n"It was very nice," Ambersley said. "I guess I was in the zone. Just putting the crosses in and guys were making good runs so that helps."\nHayden said the team came out strong Sunday, and it was good IU was able to put on a show for the fans who were not able to see the same order of events versus Maryland in California.\n"Obviously, we did it today, and hopefully it can continue rolling through the season," Hayden said. "We've got a lot of offensive talent and a lot of defensive talent, and with that talent we are going to score some goals"
Hayden's goal eerily reminiscent of semifinal winner
Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe