IU won the match 3-1 against St. Louis, despite conceding a goal faster than any other time this season.
IU conceded only 14 seconds after it had kicked off the match, courtesy of a 35-yard volley from St. Louis senior Robert Kristo.
“We felt shocked,” senior Jamie Vollmer said. “You never want to give up a goal that early, but we knew what we had to do.”
The only other time IU had conceded first was against Penn State. That 1-0 loss is the only time IU has lost this year.
Unlike against Penn State, however, IU fought back.
With a little less than eight minutes gone, sophomore Billy McConnell had the ball outside the right edge of the box. He picked out Matt Foldesy to run into the box, and Foldesy collected the ball moving toward the goal. He took a touch and fired the ball underneath the keeper’s glove to level the score.
“That was huge,” Vollmer said. “It really took a load off our backs, I’d say. We fell down for a second but we didn’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves so we just made it happen.”
The second IU goal of the half came from Vollmer, with senior Patrick Doody picking up the assist from a cross from the left corner.
With under 10 minutes left in the half Vollmer nearly had a second. He took a shot from 35 yards out that forced a lunging save from St. Louis goalkeeper Sascha Otte.
The save left Otte out of position to deal with a rebound opportunity presented to IU sophomore Tanner Thompson. Thompson simply had to collect the ball and slot home the easy finish for his third goal of the season.
“We didn’t want to sit,” Thompson said. “We wanted to press them up high and make them make decisions.”
After the opening goal, St. Louis failed to create many chances for the rest of the half.
The one other opportunity St. Louis created in the first half came from junior Francisco Vizcaino. Vizcaino took a shot from just inside the top of the 18 yard box on the right side. The effort forced a save from Webb and produced a dangerous rebound.
The ball ricocheted directly in front of goal. Freshman Grant Lillard was able to clear the ball the safety with a Billiken on his back.
The start of the second half saw IU drop very deep and invite pressure. As a result, St. Louis started seeing much more of the ball, not to say that IU didn’t produce any more chances.
The best of the second half chances for IU came on the counter. Thompson received the ball around the center circle with two St. Louis defenders in front of him and Doody making a run down the right.
Thompson carried the ball to the top of the box, looked off Doody’s run down the right and fired toward the left post. It appeared he had the goalkeeper beaten, but the ball slid past the post for a goal kick.
“The way they play with their wingbacks if you counter them there will be a lot of space there,” Thompson said. “In the second half when they started pushing numbers forward we really started to find space.”
St. Louis’ best chance of the half came with 10 minutes remaining in the match.
After the ball bounced around on the left side of the box, it fell to senior Raymond Lee. Lee let the ball bounce over his shoulder and fired his volley attempt towards the near post. Webb was ready as he dove right to parry the ball down the end line.
“He was great today,” Foldesy said. “He played really well. The goal wasn’t his fault. He came off his line well. The defense played great. They were what kept us in the game.”
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