IU ties Marquette in exhibition

The No. 1 IU men’s soccer team’s exhibition match ended in a 3-3 tie against No. 12 Marquette Thursday in its first game of the National Soccer Festival in Fort Wayne.

Indiana was dominant in the first half, taking a 3-1 advantage. The Hoosiers scored within the first five minutes when senior midfielder A.J. Corrado’s header hit the back left corner of the net on perfect pass from fellow senior Harrison Petts.

A few minutes later Marquette answered with a goal from sophomore Axel Sjoberg after a scramble in front of the Hoosier net. The Hoosiers were able to regain composure and continued to chip at the Golden Eagles’ defense.

The second Indiana goal came from senior Jacob Bushue in the 29th minute of the game. The final Hoosier goal came from freshman Tommy Thompson, who scored his first goal in a Hoosier jersey on the end of a pass from Dylan Mares.

IU Coach Todd Yeagley said it’s an advantage for his team to have players from different positions stepping up to the plate and scoring goals for the Hoosiers.

“I like the fact that our team continues to try to find ways to score,” Yeagley said.  “You know, Jacob Bushue making a late run out of midfield, he’s another weapon that we have and we keep finding ways to finish.”

Bushue also said the first half was definitely a positive one for the squad.  He said it was a compliment to them that they were able to score three goals in the first half against a defensive team like Marquette.

He said he hopes the Hoosier offense continues to baffle teams in the future.

“It was nothing out of the ordinary for us,” Bushue said.  “We have some good attacking players, and I mean, that’s just how we’re going to be able to play. Hopefully we can exploit teams like that for the rest of the year.”The second half did not go the Hoosiers’ way. Yeagley went to his bench and started an entire different lineup that took some time adjusting.

The second half squad struggled to gain composure, and as a result Marquette’s Kelmend Islami scored two goals, one of which was on a penalty kick late in the second half. Despite momentum leaning heavily toward the Golden Eagles, the Hoosiers were able to hold Marquette in the closing minutes to keep the tie.

“It was probably an unfair result with goal opportunities,” Yeagley said. “One of the goals tonight was to get a lot of people minutes, and two different teams played, so there’s not going to be great rhythm. Our first group got going pretty quickly, but our second took about 15 minutes to get going against a team that is very much the same team they were last year.”

On Saturday, the Hoosiers will square off against , No. 9 North Carolina. Indiana defeated North Carolina 1-0 last year to advance to the College Cup, but the Tar Heels eliminated the Hoosiers from the tourney in 2009 and 2011.

Indiana will kickoff against North Carolina at 7 p.m. at the Hefner Soccer Complex.

Follow reporter Alyssa Extin on Twitter @alyssa_extin.