IU looks for win without Bradford

In the midst of a five-game stretch within 14 days, the No. 14 Hoosiers play their fourth match of that stretch — including their third game away from Bloomington in four matches — Wednesday when the team travels to Lexington, Ky., to face Kentucky.

For the Hoosiers to remain undefeated on the road, they will have to play without sophomore midfielder Kerel Bradford, who will miss the first match of his career due to a red card he earned in Saturday night’s win against Penn State.

IU Coach Todd Yeagley said it’s frustrating for Bradford to see his streak snapped.

“This is another good test for our team to get some other players in,” Yeagley said. “We played without Jacob Bushue in a key regional game last year at Evansville. We had guys step in, take new roles, and came away with the road win. We expect that same type of performance on Wednesday.”

One option Yeagley provided would be for Bushue to take Bradford’s place, and sophomore midfielder Dylan Lax would start in Bushue’s vacated midfield position. Bushue said he doubts there will be a change in tactics.

“I’m not sure if our strategy really changes,” he said. “It’s maybe going to take a little bit of adjusting. But we’ve played with each other, and I’ve played the position before, so I don’t think it’ll be too big of a change.

“Obviously Kerel’s a great player. It’ll be tough, but I think we’ll be fine.”

Through three true road games this season, the Hoosiers are 3-0 and have outscored opponents 5-1.

Yeagley attributed the team’s success to experience.

“It’s a confident group,” he said. “You’ve got an experienced goalkeeper and some experience in the backline with Caleb (Konstanski), the spine, and Bushue. These guys have been on the road. They’ve been in tough places. They’re not intimidated. They’re taking a good business approach to it. That’s allowed us to have good team defending.”