Men's soccer heads to Ann Arbor on Saturday

IU is hoping to tally another win in enemy territory Saturday.

The Hoosiers have yet to win a road game this season, but after snapping their five-game losing streak Tuesday, they have built up some confidence.

The 4-2 victory against the University of Evansville Wednesday was a dominant performance by the squad that included goals from four different players.

This weekend IU will be pitted against Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. Indiana leads that series 14-2-1 all-time, and Michigan has yet to beat the Hoosiers on its own turf. The last time the two teams met, however, the Wolverines came out ahead of the then-No. 11 Hoosiers 2-1.

Injuries have been a factor for the IU squad all season, but on Wednesday it allowed for different players to step up to the plate. Senior Harrison Petts scored the first goal of the game against Evansville, and junior Patrick Doody followed that up with his second career goal. Sophomore Andrew Oliver and redshirt sophomore Kyle Sparks rounded out the goal-scoring by netting their first goals of the season.

“Everybody that came off of the bench gave us a lift,” Petts said. “Kyle Sparks and Andrew Oliver both with goals, and they’ve been good all year. It builds confidence for them but also for the whole team, so that was big.”

The 6-4-3 Wolverines have won their past two games, and among those opponents were No. 12 Creighton and Wisconsin. 

Michigan is led in scoring by James Murphy with four goals and two assists this season. Murphy has become an Internet sensation when his goal against Ohio State went viral. It has reached 280,000 views on YouTube and has been compared to a goal made by Arsenal’s Thierry Henry against Manchester United in 2000.

Oliver, who has been filling injured star freshman Tommy Thompson’s cleats, said after Wednesday’s game that at this point, every game is important. With the season winding down, he said the win was great for the team’s confidence, especially with the ups and downs the team has faced.

“Every game is definitely just as important as the next,” Oliver said. “It was definitely good for our ego and for ourselves. We really needed that little confidence booster.”

IU Coach Todd Yeagley said the defensive end looked the best it has all year, which is a great thing to see moving towards the end of the regular season. The team let up two goals in the final minutes but held off the explosive Evansville offense for the rest of the game.

Yeagley said he saw some very positive things in the game that will bode well for the Hoosiers against Michigan and all future opponents.

“Every game right now is important for us to put us in position for post season play and get momentum going into Big Tens,” Yeagley said. “I felt defensively, from our back four and our midfield, this might have been one of our better performances. We didn’t give them much, but that was to our doing.”

Follow reporter Alyssa Extin on Twitter @alyssa_extin.