The Hoosier’s goalie, sophomore Colin Webb, was playing all the way up the field as his team went for the equalizer. The ball got through to Webb, who headed the ball into the netting on the outside of the goal.
The fans cheered, and the band started to play as neither realized the shot was no good and IU had just suffered its first defeat of the season.
No. 16 Penn State beat the No. 11 Hoosiers 1-0 Saturday at Bill Armstrong Stadium as Nittany Lion sophomore Mason Klerks put in the lone goal of the match.
“The ball skipped through and, it was there by the back post,” Webb said. “I was there by the back post and just wasn’t able to put it across the field into the backside of the net.”
Klerks wound up and fired a shot from the top of the box. It flew into the upper left corner of the net past a diving Colin Webb, and gave Penn State the only goal it would need.
“The kid just hit a great shot, upper 90,” freshman defender Grant Lillard said. “Sometimes you just have to tip your hat and say, ‘Good shot.’”
The coin toss played a role in the game, as IU was forced to look into a glaring sun ?during the first half, a view the Nittany Lions never had to face as the sun went down for the second half.
“The sun was definitely rough in the first half,” Webb said. “There were points where you couldn’t see more than 10 or 15 feet in front of you. It was definitely a disadvantage.”
It was a very physical game, just as IU Coach Todd Yeagley and his players said they expected it to be. There were three yellow cards given in the game.
“It was our first Big Ten game,” Lillard said. “Everyone is amped up and ready to go. Definitely more physical play, bigger bodies banging around. We were buzzing in the second half. I thought we really controlled the tempo.”
IU had its chances as the team out-shot Penn State 20-6, but Webb’s shot at the end was the one that generated the most excitement.
“I thought that was in honestly,” sophomore midfielder Tanner Thompson said. “From my angle it looked in. The ball rolled through, and I was ?wondering if there would be anyone at the back post to get a touch on it, and he did, but the bounce just didn’t go our way. That was the story of the game today.”
Among other chances, senior midfielder Jamie Vollmer fired a shot just wide with less than two minutes remaining, and several other shots were tapped just over the net. Junior midfielder Femi Hollinger-Janzen also sailed a shot just over the net late in the second half.
“There are a lot of positives to take away from the game,” Lillard said. “We worked our butts off, and sometimes you don’t get the result you want.”
Despite the fact that Penn State was playing without its starting goalie, who was suspended for the game for picking up a red card in Penn State’s previous game, IU (3-1-1, 0-1) was unable to get the touch it needed.
“That was by far our best performance of the year,” Yeagley said. “I thought that second half was just a full-on comprehensive performance in every component.”
