Yeagley knew his defense had to limit the amount of balls sent into the box and clear the ones that made it inside the 18. Yeagley knew the game plan — he just couldn’t stop it.
The IU men’s soccer team lost Sunday 2-1 against Maryland with the game-winning goal resulting from a ball sent into the box after a dangerous corner.
It was sophomore Alex Crognale who headed home the goal in the 52nd minute, but most of the work had already been done for the 6-foot-5-inch defender.
It started with one of Maryland’s 10 corner kicks in the match being desperately punched away by sophomore goalkeeper Colin Webb. Webb had to come far off his line to punch it away, leaving him out of position for a second opportunity.
“We have to let our defenders attack that ball and not let Colin make that exit,” Yeagley said. “That way he can be there and make the save if needed.”
The punched ball settled at the feet of senior Mikias Eticha, who sent the ball back into the box.
After Webb punched the ball out, IU began to move up the field. This meant no one was fully prepared for a second ball coming into the box so shortly after the first.
All this chaos and confusion left Crognale with an unpressured header into an undefended goal.
“We knew it was coming,” Yeagley said. “That’s the disappointing part with Crognale’s goal — that we knew a recycled ball was going to happen.”
The goal was not the only instance when Maryland created problems inside IU’s box. Seemingly every one of Maryland’s corner kicks and crosses from all parts of the field created dangerous situations for the IU defense.
“They get the ball in the box,” Yeagley said. “That’s why they have so many corners. They get forward, they get the ball wide and they have guys in those wide channels who are very good in service.”
Had it not been for Webb, the score line may have been much more lopsided than 2-1. Webb had four saves in the match, all of which seemed like clear scoring opportunities for Maryland. Multiple times Maryland players were left unmarked but could not capitalize because of Webb.
On most of these occasions, Webb blocked a Maryland player who was ready to score.
It wasn’t that Maryland was sending more players into the box. The runs Maryland players were making were too difficult for IU players to mark.
“I don’t think they sent more numbers in than we’re used to,” Webb said. “It’s just that they were sending in really good services and making good hard runs that split defenders and put them in good spots to win headers.”
Time and time again, Maryland isolated a defender on the outside, created space and sent a ball into the box where multiple diagonal runs toward the goal were underway.
It almost seemed like a designed play, and Maryland was just running it again and again.
“They’re definitely good at getting the ball wide and putting dangerous balls in the box,” Webb said. “They make really strong runs which are hard to defend. It’s a good game plan that they have going for them.”
