Women's soccer falls in Big Ten semifinals

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ­— Three unanswered goals in the second half put an end to the IU women’s soccer team’s Big Ten Tournament Championship hopes Friday.
The Hoosiers fell to Nebraska 3-1 in Champaign, Ill.

IU got on the board first in the eighth minute when junior midfielder Bekah White scored to the upper right hand corner of the goal from 20 yards out.

Nebraska answered the Hoosier goal with a fast-break response that led to Nebraska having numbers and only the goalie to beat.

Senior goalie Shannon Flower was able to make a diving save to preserve IU’s one goal lead, which it took into the half.

“We did control the first half, but soccer is a game for 90 minutes, and anything could happen,” IU Coach Amy Berbary said. “At halftime we said one will not be enough to win this game, and sure enough that was true again.”

Coming out of the halftime break, Nebraska forward Jaycie Johnson scored in the 46th minute to the upper left side of the net to even the score at 1-1.

In the 54th minute, IU was charged with a foul in the box, giving Nebraska a penalty kick and the opportunity to take the lead.

Flower was able to deflect the ball over the net to preserve the tie and momentarily put a halt to the Cornhuskers’ attack.

“That was a huge save by Shannon,” junior defender Rebecca Dreher said. “That was huge for us.”

But after allowing the tying goal, Flower said the Hoosiers had already lost their
momentum.

“They got a quick one in the first five minutes, and I don’t think we had that fire anymore,” Flower said. “I saw a few people put their heads down, and I brought everyone into a huddle and I said, ‘You’re going to have to fight now that it’s all tied up.’”

After a handful of Hoosier offensive attacks were stopped, the Cornhuskers scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal in the 67th minute.

Nebraska defender Kylie Greischar sliced through the Hoosier back line and was able to beat Flower one-on-one for the goal to go up 2-1.

The Hoosier offense would not find a response.

“They were marking our forwards really well,” Dreher said. “We needed to work harder to get into passing lanes. It was hard for us to find passes because they knew what we were trying to do. They had a good scouting report.”

Nebraska would then add another goal in the 87th minute to finalize the victory.

“That’s a tough one to swallow just because we played so well in the first half,” Flower said. “I just don’t think we rose to the occasion. It’s a good thing to learn from, but it’s tough right now.”

The Hoosiers current record (14-6-1, 6-4) ties the school record for regular season wins with the 1998 season.

IU’s 42 goals scored ties a single season team-high with the 1993 and 1998 seasons.
The team will continue to practice this week in preparation for a potential NCAA Tournament run.

IU will find out if it qualified for the NCAA Tournament at 4:30 p.m. today.

“I think we exceeded even our own expectations,” Berbary said. “We know we have a lot more soccer in us. We’ll head home today, we’ll refocus and get back to work this week. Hopefully on Monday our name shows up on that bracket.”

Follow women’s soccer reporter Sam Beishuizen on Twitter @Sam_Beishuizen.