Men's soccer travels to South Bend

Underdog IU took down No. 1 Notre Dame 2-1 last year in double overtime for a Sweet 16 victory.

The Hoosiers once again find themselves the underdogs looking to grind out another win against the No. 2 Irish.

In their past five games, the teams have split the results 2-2-1, and the Hoosiers hope to tilt the scales in their favor with a win tonight.

The team travels to South Bend with some momentum coming off of its first shutout of the season against Ohio State on Sunday. The Hoosiers will need to feed off of that momentum in order to deal the unbeaten Irish their first loss of the season, win their first road game and come out on the winning end for the first time against a ranked opponent this season.

“The last couple years at least, or since I’ve been here, it’s always been one of the most physical games,” senior defender Matt McKain said. “They are always great competition. Since it’s in-state, there are always a lot of fans from both teams, which is pretty cool.”

IU Coach Todd Yeagley has been changing up the lineup by alternating starting roles between senior midfielder Nikita Kotlov and sophomore midfielder Femi Hollinger-Janzen the past couple of games. The two play an important role on the attacking side, and both scored a goal apiece in Indiana’s 2-0 victory against Ohio State.

Yeagley said both have qualities the team needs in order to be successful.

“They both have physical qualities that balance out our attack,” Yeagley said. “Femi’s ability to hold the ball under pressure and bring guys into the game helps takes a little pressure off of Tommy (Thompson), and Nikita is certainly capable of doing that.

“They balance out Dylan (Mares), A.J (Corrado). and Tommy and so we’ll keep working with which one is best to start the game. The bottom line is that we have a few starters in this group.”

Indiana will need that goal-scoring ability because Notre Dame has outscored its opponents 13-4 thus far, allowing only 58 shots while taking 129 of their own.

Leon Brown is Notre Dame’s top goal scorer with four goals, and Harrison Shipp leads the Irish in points with nine, three coming off of goals and three coming off of assists.  
Patrick Wall has been rock solid in the net for the Irish. He has a 0.52 GAA, three shutouts and 24 saves.

IU senior midfielder Harrison Petts said locking down on defense will be a necessity for a Hoosier victory.

“I think we need to play well, especially defensively,” Petts said. “One of the things we’ve been working on is box defending and making sure that when they have crossing opportunities, we’re sticking with our men and not giving them a lot of options around the box.

“We’re not going to have 35 shots again like we had against Ohio State, so when we get our opportunities we have to put them away.”

Yeagley said the team has to be on top of their game on both ends of the field to come out with a victory. He said the game is going to come down to the wire because both teams are so talented, and one great play could make or break either team.

“We have to be really sharp,” Yeagley said. “A lot of time it’s going to come down to either a restart goal, a brilliant play on someone’s behalf on either team, and both teams are capable of doing that.

“I see it as a really well played, intense, good showcase for college soccer.”

Follow reporter Alyssa Extin on Twitter @alyssa_extin.