No. 2 Hoosiers lose twice at Saint Louis invite

This weekend, the IU men’s soccer team hit a speed bump in it’s journey toward another national championship. The team traveled to St. Louis to compete in the Saint Louis/Nike Soccer Classic, where it was dealt two tough, 2-1 losses. These were the first losses of the season for IU.\nThe Hoosiers first faced No. 16 Creighton on Thursday, a match in which they suffered while facing an offensive flurry. Creighton had 17 shots to IU’s seven, 11 of which came in the second half. \nCreighton first took the lead at the 58:41 mark, when a shot from the top of the penalty box soared over junior goalkeeper Chay Cain's hands. \nThirteen proved to be Creighton’s lucky number – their 13th shot of the evening also found its way past Cain less than five minutes later, leaving the Hoosiers with a two-goal deficit. In the process of trying to make a comeback, sophomore defender Ofori Sarkodie was issued a red card for a bad tackle, the first red card issued to a Hoosier this season. \nNot long after Sarkodie’s red card, a penalty kick was awarded to the Hoosiers. Sophomore midfielder Eric Alexander took the penalty and scored the first and only goal for the Hoosiers with 16 minutes remaining in regulation time. \nWith two minutes remaining, the game was nearly tied up when a goal kicked by freshman forward Neil Wilmarth was ruled offsides and therefore not counted.\nThe Hoosiers next took the pitch against No. 24 Saint Louis on Saturday evening. However, over the course of the game, the Billikens gave IU a challenge they could not match.\nIU was the first team on the scoreboard when junior midfielder Brad Ring knocked in a goal from 20 yards out. Saint Louis continued to pressure the back line and scored the tying goal at the 41:50 mark. \nThe Billikens scored their second, game-winning goal on a defensive mistake by the Hoosiers, when a player trying to clear the ball out of the box completely missed it altogether. Junior midfielder Kevin Noschang nearly tied the game late, but the ball bounced off the pole and back into play. Sophomore midfielder Lee Hagedorn and senior midfielder Charley Traylor also worked the goalkeeper as the game wore on, but both were unable to score.