Men's soccer team's road struggles continue

The Hoosiers haven’t won a road game all season, and only one remains as the season draws to a close.

The team continues to struggle with closing out games in the final minutes. IU has lost the lead or the game in the final 10 minutes in four different games this season, and that was the case Saturday night.

Sophomore forward Andrew Oliver’s goal in the 43rd minute was not enough to bring home the win against Michigan. The Hoosiers fell 2-1 in heartbreaking fashion when Michigan’s TJ VanSlooten scored on a broken up Indiana defense in the 87th minute.
 
“We were on our back foot all night,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “We had a chance to talk about it during TV timeouts, but the message was the same every time. We weren’t the aggressor, and our second ball spacing and anticipation and toughness were missing. 

“When you’re always absorbing and not stepping forward with the decision making and etcetera, you then get yourself in a bad flurry late, and that’s what happened.”

IU came into the game after snapping a five-game losing streak against Evansville on Wednesday. Despite early Michigan efforts, IU drew first blood when Oliver scored his second goal in as many games. 

“Andrew’s done a nice job,” Yeagley said. “He scored a nice goal tonight and played pretty well in addition to that. He spurred some of our better attacking moments.”

Oliver’s goal came off of a pass from junior midfielder Patrick Doody that Oliver was able to head over Michigan keeper Adam Grinwis, who had come off of the line.
Indiana went into the half up 1-0 even though Michigan held the lead in shots 7-4.
 
The Hoosiers continued to hold the momentum to open the second half, but Michigan quickly took control of the game. 

After facing many shots in the half, IU sophomore goalkeeper Michael Soderlund finally saw a shot he couldn’t save. In the 70th minute, Michigan’s Yahmann Sahlool headed a cross from Fabio Pereira into the back of the net. 

The Hoosiers were on their heels for the next 15 minutes. The final blow came when Rylee Woods ran down a ball on the left flank and crossed it into Lars Ekenrode, who was able to lay the ball in for VanSlooten, who sent home the point blank shot.
 
The IU defense was out of position and was forced to watch the game-winning goal go by in the 88th minute.

Yeagley said mental toughness is something the team has been working on and will continue to work on as the regular season draws to a close to prevent final minute losses in the future.

“We examine ourselves,” Yeagley said. “We train on those specific areas of the field. We just have to keep strong, also, between the ears, and as things get tight, we gotta be able to play free and make good decisions, and for some reason we’ve struggled with that at times this year.”

Follow reporter Alyssa Extin on Twitter @alyssa_extin.