IU advances in NCAA Tournament

On a rain-soaked, mud-covered playing field, the IU men's soccer team slugged its way to a fourth-consecutive shutout Wednesday night and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. \nSophomore forward Brian Ackley scored the lone goal of the night as the Hoosiers topped the Northern Illinois University Huskies 1-0 at Bill Armstrong Stadium. \nIn the 20th minute, after senior midfielder Kevin Robson weaved his way through a compact Huskies defense, sophomore midfielder John Mellencamp played the ball through to Ackley, who chipped it over the head of Huskies goalkeeper Joe Zimka.\n"He didn't hit it very well, but it was just enough," Zimka said. \nFewer than five minutes after Ackley's goal, the Hoosiers almost gave it right back.\nDuring a Huskies offensive attack, Ackley fouled a Northern Illinois attacker in IU's penalty box, setting up a penalty kick between Northern Illinois forward Marcus McCarty and IU goalkeeper sophomore Chay Cain.\nBefore the game, Cain received a scouting report on McCarty's penalty kicks.\n"I kind of had an idea he was going to keep it central somewhat," Cain said. "I went to the left, tried to drag my foot a bit just to cover as much of the middle as I could." \nMcCarty's shot was low and toward the center of the goal, and diving to his left Cain made the save.\n"Luckily I was able to get my foot on it, and my defense was able to knock it out," Cain said.\nMcCarty maintains Cain made the save with his toe.\n"I had him beat, I had him leading the wrong way," McCarty said. "I just miss-hit it. I thought I had it."\nBoth the Hoosiers and Huskies missed scoring opportunities by clanking the ball off the goalposts.\n"At the end of the day we were a bit unlucky on a number of occasions," Huskies coach Steve Simmons said.\nIn the sludgy conditions, the Hoosiers and Huskies slid their way across Jerry Yeagley Field, and IU had to alter its attack. \n"We like to play the ball on the ground, and under these conditions it's hard to do that," IU coach Mike Freitag said. "The ball -- sometimes it rolls, sometimes it stops. It's not conducive to the way we like to play. We like a fast surface where you can knock and move the ball."\nTo get and keep the go-ahead goal, the cream and crimson needed a little assistance from a familiar friend.\n"At this time in the tournament, you've got to have a little luck, but you've got to make a little luck," Freitag said.\nBy advancing to the third round, the Hoosiers already moved farther in the tournament than they did last year. In 2005, IU fell to Notre Dame 2-0 in the second round, which because of a bye-round was also the first game of the Tournament for IU.\n"We've found over the years that this first game always seems to be the toughest game," Freitag said.\nThe No. 7-seed Hoosiers play again Saturday night against the winner of the Santa Clara University Broncos and the University of Washington Huskies matchup.