Women's soccer beats Purdue, keeps Golden Boot

The Golden Boot will stay in Bloomington.

After a slow first half, IU (12-4-1, 5-4) scored a pair of unanswered goals in the second half to defeat Purdue 2-1 on Thursday night in West Lafayette.

It was the first time in program history IU has beaten Purdue (8-8-1, 3-6) on the road.

“It feels so nice,” senior forward Rebecca Candler said. “After winning it last year, we knew how important it was to keep it in Bloomington.”

IU is now 3-12-3 against Purdue.

Purdue’s offense was dominant throughout the first half, outshooting IU 13-7 and getting the first score off a Jordan Frick goal in the 31st minute.

Senior goalie Shannon Flower recorded 10 saves, tying a career high.

“We had a few breakdowns in the back,” Flower said. “Every game somebody has to step up and take the leadership, and today was just my day.”

IU Coach Amy Berbary credited Flower with keeping the Hoosiers in the game.

“We don’t get out of that first half without her in goal,” Berbary said. “Time and time again, Shannon has come up big for us, and tonight wasn’t any different. She is our anchor back there.”

Flower’s performance in the first half kept the Hoosiers within striking distance while the offense tried to make adjustments at halftime.

“We didn’t change much tactically, we just needed to change our mindset,” Berbary said. “We needed to go harder, and we needed more effort from our team. We just need to play with more heart.”

In the second half, the Hoosiers were the ones controlling the tempo.

After a pair of back-to-back saves by the Purdue goalie, junior Abby Smith assisted Candler for Candler’s fourth goal in the season.

“It was a great finish,” Berbary said. “She finally broke through. It was a textbook finish to the far post.”

The goal gave the IU offense the confidence it needed to get through the rest of the game.

“We needed a score just to know that we could get back into the game,” Candler said. “It was huge for momentum. It made a huge difference the way we played the rest of the game.”

After a number of other chances around the net, the Hoosiers would strike again.
Junior forward Monica Melink found space and ran toward the goal where Candler found her for the finish to go up 2-1.

“Monica made an excellent run at the goal,” Candler said. “She did a great job of getting in front of the goalie. She pulled in front of the defender and we had a great connection.”

The win puts the Hoosiers in the upper half of the Big Ten standings with only two games left to play.

IU will play Wisconsin (9-5-2, 4-4-1) at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Jerry Yeagley Field with the chance to gain more points and assure themselves a higher seed for the Big Ten Tournament.

“This just helps us get in a better position and we continue to create our own destiny,” Berbary said. “We don’t have to rely on other teams doing things for us. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. We enjoy this tonight and we get back to work tomorrow.”

Follow reporter Sam Beishuizen on Twitter @Sam_Beishuizen.