Hoosiers lose first conference game 2-1 to Michigan

IU will need to win the rest of their games during Big Ten play to take the season title after a 2-1 home-loss to Michigan Friday night.

Before the game, the Hoosiers were tied with Northwestern at 3-0 to top the conference.

The team with the best record receives the best seeding for the conference tournament in early November.

Despite outshooting the Wolverines, the Hoosiers were defeated after letting through two goals on just five shots on goal for the entire game.

The Hoosiers achieved the first goal in the game from freshman forward Femi
Hollinger-Janzen.

After some questionable offside calls that would’ve resulted in one-on-one scenarios, Hollinger-Janzen got a step ahead of his defender to find open space in the 27th minute.

“I’m not sure if most of those calls were offside, but I held with the defender on my goal,” Hollinger-Janzen said. “I finally was able to get the first step into the box to put the ball on target. It was a great ball in from (junior midfielder) A.J. Corrado.”

Corrado showed some instances of advanced footwork before playing the ball over the top of the defenders to Hollinger-Janzen’s feet. The junior midfielder tracked his dribble back, drawing the defense upward to create space for Hollinger-Janzen.

Hollinger-Janzen played a low roller through the legs of Michigan goalkeeper Adam Grinwis. The goal was scored during the first minute of Hollinger-Janzen’s play.

“Bringing energy to the game by coming off the bench is an excellent boost,” Hollinger-Janzen said. “If the team needs a lift, I like to be the one to provide it with a goal.”

The Wolverines answered the opening Hoosier goal in just six minutes with a goal from Tyler Arnone in the 33rd minute.

The forward received a give-and-go pass from Fabio Villas Boas Pereira, and Arnone took two dribbles to the outside of the box and took a shot.

The shot flew the length of the box and beat senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner for the first time in his conference play campaign this season to tie the game.

“I was really displeased with the first goal,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “I thought we had poor principles on that. Then the second goal, the Michigan player just got a good jump on our defense.”

The go-ahead goal for the Wolverines came during the first three minutes of the second half.

Michigan’s James Murphy received a pass from T.J.Roehn on the left side of the six-yard box and placed a roller toward Soffner’s left side, colliding with the far-post netting.

“That was probably the first one for Luis this season that you thought he could’ve done better on,” Yeagley said. “But with four games left and that being the first instance, he’s done a good job for us this season.”

The two goals were the first IU has allowed in conference play this season, and they proved to be enough for defeat.

Friday’s game was the second instance in a week that IU has scored first, then allowed a go-ahead goal, the first coming against Louisville last week in a 2-2 tie.

Yeagley said the team had the chances to grab a buffer goal early in the first half, but they could not capitalize.

“I think we lacked the composure and the killer instinct to find what they were giving us,” Yeagley said. “There were times late in the second half where Eriq Zavaleta would find the ball, and you thought, ‘He’s going to get a shot here.’ That is the feeling we didn’t have in the first 25-30 minutes that we needed.”

Yeagley said despite the loss, the team still feels confident about where they are moving forward in Big Ten play.

“It was just one of those nights where Luis doesn’t have the big save when we need it, and then a force field goes up over the Michigan goal,” he said. “Mathematically, we 0feel good about where we are, and we always felt it could go down to a final game with Northwestern. We say 12 points usually gets the season title, so we’ll see what happens down the stretch.”