Men's soccer falls 1-0 to Cal Poly

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The men’s soccer team played flat in the first round of the Mike Berticelli Tournament, losing 1-0 to Cal Poly.

For 82 minutes, neither team could score.

It wasn't until Cal Poly’s Chris Bernardi took a shot inside the 18 past a standing Luis Soffner, IU's sophomore goalkeeper, 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 Cameron 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.

IU junior forward Will Bruin still led the team in shots and shots on goal, six and three respectively.

For IU, the ball was either inches from the goal – like it was in the 25th minute when freshman Harrison Petts drilled the ball from just beyond the six towards the net, only to be stopped right in front of the box by Cal Poly’s goalkeepers chest – or it could get beyond the 18.

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

“Their back four was pretty good,” Yeagley said. “Our performance was poor.”

Last weekend, the Hoosiers easily defeated then-No. 5 UCLA, but their drive to win the ball did not translate as well in South Bend.

“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.

IU junior Tyler McCarroll earned his first start, playing the full 90 minutes.

Senior Rich Balchan didn’t make the trip to South Bend and senior Daniel Kelly didn’t dress – both are trying to recover from nagging injuries.

Two key players out of the Hoosier line up could have been the cause of the IU shutout, but Yeagley said it wasn’t any one players performance – or lack thereof – that gave the Hoosiers their first road loss of the season.

“We had some players who didn’t perform well, freshman and seniors,” Yeagley said. “It was a collective performance. We weren’t sharp or in-sync. For a team that’s been pretty well in-sync to start this year, that’s disappointing.”