Kotlov must step up for IU’s postseason run

With the IU men’s soccer team tied with Northwestern atop the Big Ten standings mid-season, it is uncertain whether IU can compete for a national championship.

Sophomore forward Eriq Zavaleta has performed as expected, tallying seven goals in 10 games this year, but the lack of second-tier support from the offense is raising questions about a potential title run.

The Hoosiers have posted 16 goals this season, nearly half from Zavaleta. The only other multi-goal scorer for IU is senior midfielder Caleb Konstanski, who has two goals on seven shots.

Konstanski is also the only Hoosier besides Zavaleta with three or more shots to score on more than 20 percent of his tries.

The bottom line is that someone aside from Zavaleta will have to step up offensively.

IU currently has just two players making a serious mark: Zavaleta and senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner, who has been lights-out this season, allowing just five goals in 935 minutes of play and saving 90 percent of shots he sees.

But there’s almost no way a team can win a championship with just two productive players producing.

So, where does the production need to come from?

IU needs to get junior midfielder Nikita Kotlov going.

Kotlov had an excellent season coming off the bench most games last year. He was the man who provided late-game sparks for IU in 2011, putting up nine goals on 44 shots.

This year, however, Kotlov has started eight of IU’s 10 games and hasn’t posted a single goal on 17 shots.

It isn’t as if he isn’t getting chances, either. Just one of Kotlov’s 17 shots was on net, a shot-on-goal percentage of just less than 6 percent. Of anyone else on the team who has taken 10 or more shots, the second-lowest shot-on-goal percentage is freshman forward Femi Hollinger-Janzen, at 41 percent.

It is hard to believe Kotlov is just going through a slump, as more than half the regular season has been played.

The first thing Kotlov needs to do is relax and get back to the basics.

With 16 of 17 shots missing the net, Kotlov will have to settle down as he shoots the ball and make sure it’s on net.

If Kotlov can at least get the ball on net, anything can follow.

A striker of Kotlov’s ability could break out of a funk by scoring once. It’s the same as any great power hitter in baseball struggling to hit home runs. Once he gets one, his confidence rises and he sees the ball better, subsequently hitting home runs in bunches.

Perhaps Kotlov just needs to see one of his shots go in the back of the net to get his confidence up.

For now, though, IU can only go so far riding on Zavaleta and Soffner. The NCAA tournament is a very likely scenario, but during time, teams can easily game plan to take Zavaleta out of the equation, minimizing his opportunities.

If Zavaleta is shut down, IU needs another man to produce. Hopefully Kotlov breaks through and becomes the second option the Hoosiers have been looking for.

­— zstavis@indiana.edu