Spring season begins with 3-2 victory against Billikens of St. Louis

The IU men’s soccer team opened its spring stretch of games in similar fashion to the 2011 fall season, notching a 3-2 win against the Saint Louis Billikens on Saturday at Glenwood High School Soccer Stadium in Springfield, Ill.

This past fall, after the Hoosiers finished in a tie to Notre Dame in late August, the team came home to claim a victory against Saint Louis 3-1.

It was the team’s first win of a season in which they made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

Sophomore midfielder A.J. Corrado supplied the quick start for the Hoosiers, scoring a goal in just the fourth minute of the game off an assist from fellow sophomore midfielder Nikita Kotlov.

Corrado also supplied the assist on Indiana’s second goal off a shot from freshman forward Kyle Sparks, who saw his first playing time as a Hoosier after being redshirted
during the fall slate of games.

The Billikens stayed close, though, countering each of the first two Hoosier goals with one to match it.

After Saint Louis had tied the game for the second time of the match in the 78th minute, Bloomington native and junior defender Caleb Konstanski sailed one into the back of the net for IU’s game-winning goal just one minute later.

The Hoosiers will play their first spring home game at 3 p.m. Sunday at Jerry Yeagley Field when they take on Bradley.

— Nathan Brown