Men's soccer takes on Penn State in semifinals of Big Ten Tournament

The Hoosiers are streaking.

IU’s victory against Michigan allowed it to advance to the semifinal round of the tournament. They will meet up with top seeded and No. 16 Penn State for the second time this year at noon Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

The last time the two teams met, the Nittany Lions scored two first half goals for a 2-0 victory against Indiana.  

Junior midfielder Dylan Mares said the team plans to take a close look at the game tape from that game in preparing for the rematch.

IU and Penn State have combined for 56 wins — 28 each — and 14 Big Ten Tournament titles, making them the two most dominant programs in Big Ten Tournament history.  

The Hoosiers and the Big Ten Champion Nittany Lions have also faced six common foes this season. Penn State went 5-1 in those matches while Indiana went 2-4.

Penn State might have a better record (11-5-1), but the Hoosiers (7-11-1) have enough postseason experience to accomplish the task ahead of them with eight returning starters from last year’s national championship team.  

The Hoosiers’ only chance to return to the NCAA Tournament is to go through Penn State and then get a win in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game on Sunday.

Penn State stumbled at the end of its regular season, losing its last two games to Ohio State and Akron. Friday’s game will be the first they’ve played since those two losses due to the top seed receiving a bye in the first round of the tournament.  

IU Coach Todd Yeagley said his team’s success against Michigan was due to the return of freshman forward Tommy Thompson, who had an assist against Michigan.

“I think getting Tommy Thompson back on the team was a huge part of that (win),” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said on iuhoosiers.com. “It gives us some confidence on our attack and brings other players in. I thought we defended well and hard. Collin made saves he need to in goal, and we won a game in overtime.”

Mares has scored the game winner in the last two games, and reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the week and freshman goalkeeper Colin Webb has played well in the Hoosiers’ last two games.

“You can sense a really good feeling within the group,” Yeagley said on iuhoosiers.com. “Now we advance, but to do it the way we did it, in some way it may be better that we had an overtime win. I’m happy for them and we’re really excited to play in the semifinals.”

Follow reporter Alyssa Extin on Twitter @alyssa_extin.