IU falls to Cal Poly, shuts out Drake over weekend

There’s a college soccer standard. Then there’s the IU soccer standard.

A 1-0 loss to Cal Poly in which the Hoosiers admitted having no rhythm contributed to a poor performance — not the IU soccer standard.

A shutout win against Drake including quick passes between IU players and domination of possession — the IU soccer standard.

“It’s the standard that they’ve created by their play,” IU coach Todd Yeagley said. “We had a very bad performance against Xavier, and we came back and had a very good performance against Duke preseason. So this was a first regular season subpar and today that was a dominant performance, and we controlled the game in every aspect that you want to.”

But Friday’s game against Cal Poly was a different story.

No. 18 IU spent 82 tireless minutes on the pitch before Cal Poly’s Chris Bernardi took a shot inside the 18 past a standing IU sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner in the left edge of the goal. The shot sailed past Soffner, untouched and into the right corner of the net, for the only goal of the game.

“From the very first whistle, we never found our rhythm,” senior midfielder Cam Jordan said. “We kind of just let them linger around. When you let a team linger around long enough, they’re going to get one.”

It wasn’t that IU didn’t have its chances. The Hoosiers took 16 shots, seven of which were on goal. Junior forward Will Bruin still led the team in shots and shots on goal with six and three, respectively.

For IU, the ball was either inches from the goal — as it was in the 21st minute when freshman midfielder Harrison Petts drilled the ball from just beyond the six, only to be stopped right in front of the box by Cal Poly’s goalkeeper’s chest — or it couldn’t get beyond the 18 for the threat of a Hoosier score.

Cal Poly’s back four put a clamp on Bruin and the IU offense, but Yeagley attributed the loss to more than Cal Poly’s defensive strength.

“The stat that jumps out is we had two fouls,” Yeagley said. “We weren’t tough today. That’s a little bit of tell-tale sign right there.

“When you walk away with two fouls in a game, you’re not anticipating. You’re not getting the second ball. You’re not fighting. You get in enough duals, you’ll get called for a foul. That stat says a lot right there.”

Cal Poly had 15 fouls.

So what did IU gain from its Friday loss?

“I don’t know if it’s going to happen very often, if ever again,” junior midfielder Alec Purdie said about the team’s flat play. “When you have games like that, there’s so much you can learn from them. It was a bit of a fluke and a bit of a learning experience.”

IU was back to aggressive play against Drake on Sunday, accumulating seven fouls and collaborating for eight shots on goal and Soffner’s first shutout win of the season, 2-0.

Just past the 30-minute mark, Bruin charged toward the goal, surrounded by the blue jerseys of Drake defenders. Bruin was pushed, sliding face first towards the goal. Penalty kick.

Senior midfielder Andy Adlard scored his second penalty kick goal of the season to put IU on the board.

Headers from Bruin and shots from Purdie came close to the net, but it wasn’t until the 70th minute, when a pass from Bruin allowed freshman midfielder Nikita Kotlov to bring Drake’s goalie from the box and pull a shot around his right side for IU’s second and final score. IU took 31 total shots against Drake.

“Thirty-one shots is a high number,” Yeagley said. “On one side, you’re really pleased that we’re creating these chances. We just need to have a little more sophistication, a little more composure whether it’s the final pass or just the finish itself. The positive is that you create in those chances. If you’re getting five to six shots a game, you’re having new problems.”