Hoosiers fall 2-1 to Notre Dame

It was a long walk to the locker room. And sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner was taking it alone.

Standing halfway to the sidelines, Soffner began to take the walk one slow step at a time — arms bent, hands folded in defeat, his goalie gloves flopped over his buzzed head.

With 11 minutes remaining in a 1-1 tie, Notre Dame’s Adam Mena blasted a shot from well beyond the 18. Untouched, the shot drilled past the outstretched 6-foot-4-inch frame of Soffner.

Junior forward Will Bruin couldn’t come to the rescue this time. He couldn’t equalize the score like he had 23 minutes into the first half, and IU dropped its decision for the fourth time this season.

“We did some very good things the first half,” IU coach Todd Yeagley said. “I thought we were the better team by far in all the measures that we’re trying to get better at. We just couldn’t get that second (goal).”

The goal they did score was No. 8 for Bruin this season.

“Andy (Adlard) hit an early cross-in, and I don’t know if the goalie bobbled it or got thrown off,” Bruin said. “I saw him not handle it. The ball just bounced to me, and I just took a touch and put it in the open net. It was pretty easy to me.”

While the first half was intense and full of quick passes, the second half seemed to drag. Only seven combined shots were taken in the second half.

“That’s where the game started to change for us,” Yeagley said. “We lost midfield. We looked a little more down. Yet I think Notre Dame started to find their groove about the same time we started losing some footing. They got hot at the right time of the game and made a key play. That was somewhat the tale of tonight.”

Another part of the tale was IU’s three fouls to Notre Dame’s 14. It was the same story as IU’s Sept. 10 loss to Cal Poly. The Hoosiers had finished that game with only two fouls to their opponent’s 15.

“This group is never going to be a statistical leader in that category,” Yeagley said. “It’s not within this team, but we know we have to be tougher. ...It’s not a stat I’m enjoying to see, but it’s one the team is aware of.”

As the second half progressed, IU moved the ball out of the middle, playing more end-to-end, after the Irish’s second goal while looking to take the game to overtime.

In the 85th minute, junior midfielder Chris Estridge took his second shot of the evening from the south baseline. The ball flew above a sea of red and white jerseys. Estridge said he thought for sure it was going in.

But an Irishman got in the way.

“The defender like six or seven yards away stuck his arm out, what looked to be his elbow, and it looked like it deflected away,” Estridge said. “I was sure it was a handball.”

No call came, and five minutes later, the long walk to the locker room began.

“Tonight was another story where it was tough to give up a soft goal and play a team for a large majority and not come up with a result,” Yeagley said. “You look at the players’ faces, and they’re really upset. I told them, ‘We’ve got half the season left. You’ve got to get up and get ready for the next fight.’ That’s what we’re learning: how to deal with adversity, learn from it and move on and be strong. We’ll continue to preach that.”