Men's soccer shuts out Michigan State, 1 win away from conference title

Sunday was junior forward Will Bruin’s birthday. The 21-year-old went to Michigan State for the weekend, took seven shots on goal and had a pizza on the bus after the game.

He also added two goals to his 2010 count — numbers 11 and 12 on the year — en-route to a 3-0 stomping of No. 16 Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich.

“I woke up, had an alright pregame meal and then beat them handily, which was pretty nice,” Bruin said. “We controlled the game from start to finish. That’s the first time I’ve actually beat them.”

The Hoosiers came off a 1-1 tie of a then 4-6-3 Kentucky squad Wednesday by taking out any frustration on the Big Ten’s second-place team.

The road win now puts IU a conference win away from claiming the Big Ten regular
season title.

“I’d say we’re all completely on the same page,” sophomore midfielder Joe Tolen said. “It’s good for us, but it’s nothing we didn’t think we could do. We took care of business, and that’s how we see it.”

Tolen recorded his first career goal seven minutes into the second half, which gave the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead and put the game out of reach for the Spartans, who only recorded six shots on the afternoon to IU’s 13.

“It was incredible,” Tolen, an Evansville native said. “Will got a shot off, the goalie made a great save and I didn’t have much to do but put it in back of net.”

Bruin, Tolen, senior midfielder Andy Adlard and junior forward Alec Purdie each recorded assists on the game.

Eighteen players saw action Sunday, five of whom played the whole 90 minutes.

Coach Todd Yeagley said the win against the highly-ranked Michigan State is not only big for conference standings, but also for RPI, which plays a factor in potential NCAA
tournament seeding.

“It had a lot of importance,” he said. “In final stretch, to get wins on the road against teams like Michigan State goes a long way. I love the fact that we can get wins like these on the road. Ultimately, it puts us in really good position to control our own destiny in conference.”

While IU has inched close to earning a bye and No. 1 seed for the Big Ten Tournament in State College, Pa., there are three games yet to be played in the regular season.

Before having two opportunities to clinch the conference — first at home against Northwestern, then a week later at Ohio State — undefeated No. 7 Butler visits Bloomington on Wednesday.

“Wednesday isn’t far away, so we have to know task at hand,” Tolen said. “We have to show we can play with the best.”

In the meantime, Bruin said the best gift he received all day was “the easy win.”

Next week, he said, is when his parents travel to Bloomington to celebrate his 21st birthday and possibly a conference championship.

“That’s the plan,” he said.