IU to play Old Dominion at home in NCAA 2nd round

Senior midfielder Alec Purdie came to Bloomington to win an eighth star for IU. On the eve of his final postseason, he’s ready for one final run.

As the 16th overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers (12-3-5) will play Old Dominion (12-5-1) at home in the second round at 2 p.m. Sunday. As one of the 16 overall seeds, IU received a first-round bye.

After a regular season in which the Hoosiers lost three games in a seven-day period, Purdie said he feels his team will match up well with whichever opponent it comes across in the tournament.

“As we’ve shown, we can beat anybody on any day,” Purdie said. “Unfortunately, we have had some bad losses and dropped some important games, but if we come out and play like we can, we know we can beat anybody.”

Even with a potential matchup against No. 1 overall seed North Carolina on the horizon in the third round, Purdie made it clear IU won’t overlook Old Dominion.

“Whether it is any other team we have played all year, we know we can win,” Purdie said. “At the same time, we know we can lose if we aren’t focused and ready to play the way we know we can. We’re going to come out Sunday and take care of business.”

Upon finding out which team and where his team would be playing, junior goalkeeper Luis Soffner was very excited.

He said he relishes at least one more opportunity to play in front of the home fans in Bloomington before a possible deep postseason run.

“We feel we have a strong advantage at home with the Hoosier Army, and we wanted to see them one more time,” Soffner said.

Entering the postseason, Soffner sees this as a new beginning and a very exciting time for the Hoosiers to do something historic.

“Before the Big Ten tournament, (IU) Coach (Todd) Yeagley was saying that this was the second of our three seasons this year,” Soffner said. “This is our third chance to win a trophy, and obviously, this is the biggest one. This is what we have been playing for the whole year.”

Recognizing that for the rest of the season the Hoosiers will be playing quality opponents, Yeagley relishes the opportunity to face a new team.

“It is nice to see an unfamiliar face,” Yeagley said. “Sometimes our regional rivals always can be a challenging physical and mental game.”

Yeagley isn’t worried about his team looking past Sunday’s contest because that has been the message he has stressed all year.

“It’s been our message all year to take one game at a time,” Yeagley said. “In training — getting the most out of every practice — and I think we’ve done a good job of that. I feel the guys are hungry coming out of the gate just like we were last year.”