Hoosiers capitalize on 2-0 advantage for 10th victory of season

Other than the final 18 minutes of IU’s 6-0 drubbing of Dayton early in the season, IU Coach Todd Yeagley had trusted junior goalkeeper Luis Soffner to keep balls out of the net for the men’s soccer team.

But Wednesday night, as his team traveled to Evansville, Ind., Yeagley decided to start freshman Michael Soderland instead.

“We’ve been planning to get Mike some time for a while, and I felt like this would be a good game to get him a start,” Yeagley said. “Going into the end of the regular season and the postseason, we want to make sure that we’re ready for whatever comes our way.”

Despite having the freshman in goal for the full game, Soderland’s teammates put together enough offense to give him his first win as a Hoosier, defeating the Purple Aces 2-1.

In the first half Wednesday night, neither team took full offensive control in the opening minutes, with IU keeping only a 6-4 lead with shots.

Freshman forward Eriq Zavaleta lurked in front of the Evansville goal, but several offsides calls against the freshman put a halt to a few of the Hoosiers’ goal chances.

Then, with seven minutes left to play in the first half, a sharp pass from sophomore midfielder Harrison Petts gave senior defender Chris Estridge IU’s first real chance to score.

He didn’t waste his opportunity, burying the ball in the back of the net for his third goal of the season.

“It was a nice one to get,” Estridge said. “It’s been a while for me because I got a few early in the season, but it was a nice relief and a good way to finish off the first half.”

In the opening minutes of the second half, the Hoosiers were able to tack on another quick goal. Sophomore midfielder Nikita Kotlov took a pass from senior midfielder Alec Purdie and shot it past Evansville goalie Eric Teppen with his first touch.

Kotlov’s score gave him four games in a row with a goal and five goals total this season.

Yet Indiana hasn’t always proven comfortable with a 2-0 lead this season, losing 3-2 to Louisville and tying Michigan State 2-2 earlier this year. Both happened when IU had a 2-0 advantage.

Evansville looked like it might make another late-game comeback against Yeagley’s team, scoring just two minutes after Kotlov’s goal, but IU stayed strong in the closing minutes of the game to fend off the Purple Aces.

“Tonight, even after they scored that first goal, both our offense and defense really kept their composure, which I think was what we lacked in those other games,” Yeagley said. “The lesson going forward is that we still need to look for that third or fourth goal, but our guys responded well tonight.”

Credited with the win, Soderland said although he found out only five hours before the game’s start that he’d be defending between the posts, he felt nothing unusual during the pregame warm-ups.

“I just needed to focus myself mentally, but it was nice to get the experience under my belt and get the reward of the start tonight,” Soderland said. “It was such an honor to be in goal tonight, such a great feeling.”

As the team goes on to face Northwestern this weekend, Yeagley now has the task of
deciding who he wants in goal to face the Wildcats.

“We’ll continue to evaluate this game,” Yeagley said. “Just sit back and move forward with what’s best for the team.”