IU women’s soccer opened its season Friday with a 2-0 victory against Indiana State at home.
And for 89 minutes Sunday, the Hoosiers kept Eastern Michigan off the board on the road.
But for one minute, the Hoosier defense let up. The temporary defensive lapse was just enough for Eastern Michigan.
The Eagles scored two goals in 55 seconds.
“They both had to do with our communication,” senior defender Tori Keller said of the two goals. “We definitely let our guard down a little bit.”
The defensive breakdown happened the 25th minute Sunday. One of Eastern Michigan’s center midfielders got forward on the Hoosier back line.
The IU defense wasn’t expecting the move and couldn’t get back in enough time to stop senior forward Angela Vultaggio from scoring.
After allowing a goal, the entire IU team huddled together to discuss what just happened so the team could correct it.
But after the unexpected first goal, Keller said the team rushed through the discussion.
On the ensuing Eastern Michigan counter attack, Vultaggio once again found the back of the net for her second goal in 55 seconds.
Berbary said one of the strengths from last year’s NCAA Tournament team was the ability to rebound after mistakes.
But her young team put their heads down after allowing the first goal. The brief lapse in concentration was just enough to lead to a costly second goal.
“That was something we were so good at last year,” Berbary said. “We went down, and we didn’t blink. This time, we went down, and we went down again 55 seconds later.”
The 55 seconds of poor defense overshadowed what was largely a game in which IU dominated possession.
The Hoosiers outshot the Eagles 24-8, but only five of IU’s shots were on goal and all were saved.
Being unable to convert on scoring chances has become an Achilles’ heel of sorts for the Hoosiers, who combined to outshoot Indiana State and Eastern Michigan 43-17 over the weekend but only managed two goals.
In the second half, the Hoosiers managed to put consistent pressure on the Eastern Michigan goal but were unable to convert.
In the 56th minute, senior forward Jordan Woolums had a shot hit the bottom side of the crossbar that bounced away from the goal.
Freshman defender Mykayla Brown was among a number of Hoosiers who had a chance at a shot on the rebound, but her effort was blocked by an Eagle defender.
Junior midfielder Jessie Bujouves registered eight shots in the game, three of which were on goal. But despite outshooting Eastern Michigan 15-3 in the second half, IU couldn’t find the right finishing touch.
At the end of the day, Berbary said the Hoosiers just couldn’t capitalize in the final third of the field.
“Unfortunately, we just weren’t patient,” she said. “I don’t even think nervous is the right word .... We’re going to spend a lot of time this week trying to sort that out.”
Berbary said she was disappointed that her team didn’t improve much from the first to the second game, but added the Hoosiers are young and will have to tighten things up in practice.
With four consecutive road games ahead, Berbary said the next couple of weeks will be telling.
“These are the growing pains of a young team,” Berbary said. “Where we’re going to have a problem is if we don’t get better every game and take some of the mistakes we’ve made and fix them.
“That will be what we’ll see over the next couple of weekends, is if we can start to grow and learn from the mistakes. Because every game matters.”
